Recently I was reading John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism (1861), and he argued that happiness is the sole end of all human action. In other words, that the end goal for all humans is happiness, that the most meaningful goal a human can aim towards is happiness, that one should do whatever makes them happy. This implies that whatever makes one happy must be right and just.

Now, this all sounds well and good on the surface, but is it really true? Should the moral code of society just be whatever makes one happy?

The first thing to establish is that there is an objective truth or reality, that even though there are differing perspectives with which one can view and interpret reality, there is still a singular and identifiable reality or truth that exists. I believe that no one actually can see reality objectively, because we all have our own biases and weaknesses that prevent us from seeing objective reality. Regardless, the fact remains that an absolute reality exists.

Different things make different people happy, and if Mill’s ideas are applied to this, then the logical conclusion is that whatever is right or just is different for each person. However, we know that there is an objective truth or reality. The idea that what is right or just is different for each person (the idea that x is right for one person because it makes them happy, y is right for another person because it makes that person happy) does not conform to the fact that there is an objective truth or reality. A moral code is used by one in order to act on the objective truth or reality in a positive or right way. If there is only one reality, then there cannot be different moral codes for each person (based on that persons happiness) that are all just. Therefore, the end goal for human action should not be happiness. But if its not happiness, then what is it, what should humans strive towards, what is the right way to live one’s life?

As I said before, there is an objective identifiable reality, and a moral code is used in order to act in a right way or in accordance to that objective identifiable reality. So, there cannot be different moral codes for each person, based on whatever makes that person happy. That means that there is a singular moral code, or a way of acting that alligns to objective identifiable reality. The sole end of human action should be to see reality and truth as clearly and unbiasedly as possible (something that is obviously really difficult) and act in accordance to that objective reality. Obviously no one can ever live a life in which every action conforms to that moral code which is aligned to reality, but it is humans’ responsibility to try.

The end goal of human action should be a constant effort to conform one’s actions to a moral code that aligns with reality, and not to act solely with the purpose of making one’s self happy.