Publishing Guide

Upcoming Events

National | Anti-Capitalism

no events match your query!

New Events

22 Mar [Dublin] National Demonstration for Palestine: End...

more >>

Other Press

Anti-Capitalism

France Rises Up Against the New Fascism - Vaccine Passports 23:57 Jul 21 3 comments

George Floyd: one death too many in the “land of the free” 23:58 Jun 23 0 comments

The leveraged buyout, exploitation and punishment beating of Greece as warning to others. 11:45 May 11 0 comments

Red Banner issue 60 out now 13:18 Jun 22 0 comments

Red Banner issue 59 out now 17:46 Mar 28 0 comments

more >>

User Preferences

Feeds

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Human Rights in Ireland

Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

How Judges Took Control of Britain Mon Aug 18, 2025 15:00 | Richard Eldred
In Britain, ministers can barely move without a judge tripping them up ? from bin strikes and asylum rulings to welfare ? leaving Parliament all but powerless, says Sam Ashworth-Hayes in the Telegraph.
The post How Judges Took Control of Britain appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

FCDO Hands Feminist Group More Than ?20 Million to ?Abolish Hetero-Patriarchal Capitalist World Orde... Mon Aug 18, 2025 13:00 | Richard Eldred
Over ?20 million of taxpayer cash has been funnelled by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office to a feminist fund bent on dismantling the "hetero-patriarchal capitalist world order".
The post FCDO Hands Feminist Group More Than ?20 Million to ?Abolish Hetero-Patriarchal Capitalist World Order? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

The European Press Are Having a Big Stroppy Sad Following the Trump-Putin Summit in Alaska Mon Aug 18, 2025 11:00 | Eugyppius
Europe's hysterical reaction to the Trump-Putin summit shows just how out of touch our elites are, says Eugyppius.
The post The European Press Are Having a Big Stroppy Sad Following the Trump-Putin Summit in Alaska appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Pupils Who Want to be Doctors ?Barred? From Vital Work Experience at NHS Hospitals ? Because They go... Mon Aug 18, 2025 09:00 | Richard Eldred
Some of the UK's leading NHS trusts are shutting out private-school pupils ? even those on full bursaries ? from crucial medical work experience.
The post Pupils Who Want to be Doctors ?Barred? From Vital Work Experience at NHS Hospitals ? Because They go to Private School appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Biddy Baxter and the Decline and Fall of Blue Peter Mon Aug 18, 2025 07:00 | James Alexander
Politics Professor James Alexander reflects on the death of Blue Peter producer Biddy Baxter and concludes that while the BBC's Reithian condescension was pretty sick-making, its descent into populist vulgarity is worse.
The post Biddy Baxter and the Decline and Fall of Blue Peter appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network

Voltaire, international edition

Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Utilitarianism and Irish Left

national | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis

Friday January 22, 2016 12:58

by Paddy Hackett

Report this post to the editors

Utilitarianism is the hidden basis for the moral and philosophical basis of much of the Irish Left

In general the Left in Ireland is utilitarian in their moral and political philosophy. It is forever making demands for this and that. Generally its demands are not concerned with the need for the emancipation of the working class together with the need to eliminate alienation. This is because it does not seek the elimination of capitalism. Instead it seeks the Utilitarian increase in pleasure and reduction in pain. The greater happiness principle of Jeremy Bentham. The latter believed that “the greater happiness of the greatest number” was achievable within capitalism. This is essentially the position of much of the radical Left. This Left is not even reformist. Reformists claim that it is possible to incrementally turn capitalism into socialism by means of reforms. This Left’s call for socialism is at most aspirational. It does not dialectically tie it in with its Utilitarian Action Programmes. It's political philosophy is a vulgar version of Utilitarianism. It is not even aware of the Utilitarian moral assumptions underlying its political outlook.

Utilitarianism is a reductionist moral philosophy. For it the unit of society is the individual. Consequently it ignores class division and advocates cross class policies as does much of the Irish Left. It's active leadership of the anti-property tax and anti-water rates campaigns are an example of this. It's support for electoralism is another. The latter means the support of the atomisation of the working class though elections under representative democracy.

Add Your Comments >>

printable version

with comments

atom feed of comments

rss feed of comments

RSS and atom feeds allow you to keep track of new comments on particular stories. You can input the URL's from these links into a rss reader and you will be informed whenever somebody posts a new comment.

Digg this

Furl

Reddit

Gab

Twitter

save preference

Comments (5 of 5)

#	Title	Author	Date
1	Please do us a favor	Mike Novack	Sat Jan 23, 2016 12:52
2	Bullshit Watcher.	Pesky Pete.	Sat Jan 23, 2016 17:56
3	Mike and Utilitarianism	Paddy Hackett	Sat Jan 23, 2016 18:53
4	You really need to keep focused on the argument	Mike Novack	Sun Jan 24, 2016 23:09
5	Bentham Again	Paddy Hackett	Sun Jan 31, 2016 23:46

Add Your Comments >>

© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy