How Mill's utilitarianism and volunteerism could help Singapore's well-being

• Main Author: Siti Ayeeshah Muhamad Zaki
• Other Authors: Teru Miyake
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Humanities::Philosophy
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/147814
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In this essay, I aim to show that amending education curriculums such as the Community Involvement Programme and Values In Action Programme and teaching students basic theoretical concepts of Mill’s Utilitarianism would promote an improvement in the levels of well-being in Singapore. Singapore experiences low levels of well-being as a result of many macroeconomic factors, some of which are increasing prices of living, an ageing population and increased levels of stress amongst the working population. I propose that in order to help alleviate these levels, Singaporeans should be more involved in meaningful volunteer work as volunteering presents well-being benefits for everyone involved. I explore the ways in which Mill’s Utilitarianism could be included into the Singaporean education system via already present curriculums such as the Community Involvement Programme and the Values In Action Programme, showing how they are lacking and how Mill’s Utilitarianism could improved the programs. I also show how Singaporeans’ apathy may result in their missing empirically-proven benefits of volunteering, thus missing out on pleasure and thus well-being. From this, I conclude that we ought to use fundamental ideas in Mill’s Utilitarianism in order to promote a spirit of ethical volunteerism in Singaporeans.