Branches Book

BRANCHES

many forms. The question is, what action will create the most possible pleasure and the least possible pain? Using this system, whichever action creates the greatest pleasure from the system is the best and most ethical action to take. There are multiple ways to calculate the said outcome of the system, and the resulting calculation is rational enough that it is a bit like a math problem (I know, I know, math, but stick with me, there are no numbers involved). There are several questions that Utilitarianism uses to calculate the total pain or pleasure from an action. One aspect that Utilitarianism focuses on is how great the pain vs. pleasure is, or the intensity of the pain and pleasure from each action. For example, feeding a starving child would obviously alleviate a lot of pain. On the surface, this may seem to create the most immediate pleasure compared to putting a girl in school. However, the consequences of not allowing a girl to go to school can mean child marriages, death at childbirth, death of children, and more, which can also create unbelievable amounts of pain. So as you can see, Utilitarianism is about focusing on not just immediate but also delayed suffering from an action. Next, Utilitarianism focuses on how many people the action will effect. In this scenario, sending a child to school is likely to affect so many people in the future that it would be hard for any other option to compete. Finally, I want to talk about purity of the pain or pleasure. This is the question that Utilitarianism asks to determine if an action will create multiple types of pleasure or pain down the road. For example, educating a girl will create the pleasure of safety while she is in school, but will also translate into other types of pleasures once she leaves school, such as health, increased wealth, and more. This is what is truly unique about education. The act of learning itself is one thing, but learning to do something as simple as reading and writing can make such a difference in the futures of so many people, and can translate to so many different aspects of life. This is a huge part of what makes girl’s education a worthy cause, because a little can truly go a long way in terms of making a real difference. Utilitarianism isn’t for everyone, and it is only one way to go about making these decisions, but I hope that it has helped to shine some light on how focusing on the future can make as big of a difference as short term solutions. At the end of the day, when choosing where to alleviate suffering in the world, there are countless options. Ultimately, you will likely end up giving to an area that you are passionate about. But before you write off access to education as not being that passion for you, consider how many other parts of life something as simple as education can affect. How do you sum up education? It is truly life changing. From allowing girls to have a childhood to giving them and their families brighter futures to simply allowing them to enjoy the pleasures of learning, there is so much that

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