Utilitarianism is, at its core, a theory about morality. To elaborate, it looks for what is good or bad; in the case of the situation presented to us, these are decided based on the amount of happiness that each outcome leads to. We were given a situation where we had to choose between a loved one who is endangered, or a neurosurgeon in a similar life or death situation. The utilitarian ways backfire when it comes to deciding the overall happiness that includes us, or the total happiness of others— not necessarily including ourselves in this overall amount. Some ideas in this text will be aimed to showing how the hedonic calculus can backlash in our decisions over what the overall happiness will be; all the while, showing how utilitarians would decide in a situation.

The utilitarian view in a case where a loved one and a professional neurosurgeon are to be saved; and only one can be saved, is found conflicted. Will you save a loved one from a fire and increase happiness for yourself— which doesn’t necessarily mean that your happiness will be worth less than that of a group of two hundred or so of this surgeon’s patients—? On the other hand, will you save a neurosurgeon (who can save many lives, and cure many others he will meet in the future) that’s about to lose his life in collapsing rubble?
If we were to use the Hedonic Calculus to determine the one that’s worthy to save, what will our criteria be to decide the most worthy? For all we know this surgeon could be rude, and his patients never come back for a second checkup; leaving him a useless piece in our society. On the other hand we can say that what will bring the most happiness to all is the rescue of this innocent child that just went through a horrible disaster. A surgeon already has lived a life, this child is an image of hope, and an example of how our values to appreciate life are lost as we grow of age. Our own child will surely bring greater happiness to us, and others with his story of survival. This man on the other hand provides nothing to our lives yet. Even though these could be factors that influence our decision, the question still lays; who will bring the greatest amounts of happiness?