To the Editor:
Re “Senate Passes Health Care Overhaul Bill” (The New York Times on the Web, Dec. 24):
Christmas came just in the St. Nick of time for the Senate as it finally passed the major health care reform bill.
The whiners may yet complain about not finding the public option in their stocking, and the Scrooges may fret about the costs, but the bill follows the Millsian principle of providing the greatest good for the greatest number.
It is truly in the spirit of the season that celebrates human compassion and charity. And for that, I say hallelujah.
Paul M. Wortman
East Setauket, N.Y., Dec. 24, 2009
Note from KBJ: This man knows just enough philosophy to be dangerous. First, the adjective is "Millian," not "Millsian." I have never, in 26 years as a philosopher, heard the term "Millsian" in connection with John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). Second, Mill never used the expression "greatest good for the greatest number," and for good reason. It's incoherent. It requires that two independent values (how much good and how many people) be maximized. Even Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) abandoned the expression in favor of "the greatest happiness principle." Third, whether the health-care bill maximizes overall utility is doubtful. Certainly the letter writer has done nothing to show that it does. If my money is taken from me against my will, I experience unhappiness. This must enter into the utilitarian calculus. It's plausible that the utility-maximizing scheme is not government-funded health care, or even government-regulated health care, but a free market for health care, in which individuals are left to their own devices. Fourth, there are other goods besides happiness. This is precisely where utilitarianism goes awry. One of those other goods is justice. The health-care bill is manifestly unjust, since it takes some people's hard-earned money and gives it to others. The letter writer would be well-advised to take an Ethics course at his nearest community college. He literally doesn't know what he's talking about.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 