> Is our society structured in a way which encourages people to make less than the greatest contribution they could?
While he answers his question, I want to point out that posing this question implicitly ties "contribution to society" with "use of a life". The utilitarianism makes sense to me, but I don't think everyone would agree that that is the right metric (for example, average or total happiness might be alternatives).
I believe I did address the philosophical question with the fact that it's my life and I can spend it however I like. I don't think that's inconsistent with wondering how one could make the greatest contribution to society -- if anything, it makes the choice all the more meaningful.
I have misunderstood. I re-read the passage and it seems that in that question you were not trying to derive insights about society, but saying because society is not structured this way, therefore you went and did that. The question was left open until the end, and because of the way the original question was phrased ("society" being the subject) I thought your thesis was about optimizing your life from society's view rather than from your own point of view.
While he answers his question, I want to point out that posing this question implicitly ties "contribution to society" with "use of a life". The utilitarianism makes sense to me, but I don't think everyone would agree that that is the right metric (for example, average or total happiness might be alternatives).