Understanding Utilitarianism: Key Concepts and Critiques

Essay about Utilitarianism Utilitarianism What is Utilitarianism? Utilitarianism is a philosophical concept that holds an action to be held right if it tends to promote happiness for the greatest number of people. Utilitarians define the morally right actions as those actions that maximize some non–moral good or happiness and minimize some non–moral evil. Pleasure is an example of a non–moral good and pain is an example of a non– moral evil. A utilitarian will fous on the consequences of an act rather than on the intristic nature of the act or the motives of the agent. In short, utilitarians focus on ends rather than actions. An example would be a person that litters, a utilitarian will argue that the act of littering is not intrinsicly bad but the litter that ...show more content... The second story deals with a megistrate that is pressured by the mob to condemn an innocent person in order to prevent the mob of murdering innocent people. The megistrate acts as a utilitarian by condeming an innocent person to save the lives of the many innocent people. The megistrate acts as a utilitarian but was his decision the right decision? Is utilitarinism always the right action to take? In the next passage I will describe oppositions made towards utilitarianism . Bernard Williams is the author of " A Case against Utilitarianism". In this passage Williams is against utilitarianism because he beliefs that the actions that a person takes matter because decisions are reflected by integrity, responsibility, and morals. His argument states that utilitarianism is only concerned with the best outcome, and that utilitarianism does not consider and evaluate the actions that a person must take to achieve the outcome. Williams's beliefs that a person must do what is morally correct. For example, in Nielsen's mob story, Williams could argue that the megistrate did wrong in killing the innocent man because he is always going to be held responsible for the murder futhermore he has probably violated his values, integrity, and morals. Williams would argue that the megistrate should do what he thinks is morally right because he is the only Get more content on StudyHub.Vip

Utilitarianism Essay Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is the greatest good of the greatest number. It takes the view that an action is right if it is likely to produce the best consequences compared to all the other possible actions. The best consequences are those which involve the maximization of what is good and the minimization of what is bad. The worst consequences are which involve the maximization of what is bad and the minimization of what is good. The basic premise is the idea that the greatest good comes from creating happiness for the greatest number of people. Pleasure and freedom of pain are the only things desirable as ends. In Utilitarianism it is the greatest ...show more content... Along with these problems, there are many arguments for and against Utilitarianism and whether it provides an adequate basis for making moral decisions. An argument against Utilitarianism is that there is no agreement about what is the 'good' that is to be maximized for all concerned in different situations. Who decides what is good for whom? And whose interests are primary in these decisions? Furthermore does someone have authority over anyone else in making these decisions? Also, a Utilitarian would not judge the rightness or wrongness of the actions but rather in the consequences or what has resulted from the actions. This means they take the view that it is okay, and therefore right, to carry out an action which is wrong in itself as long as it has good consequences for the majority of people. An example of how this could be wrong is; in a society with a lot of rape and no rapists being convicted, the general public may be threatened and unhappy with the thought of a rapist being at large. Therefore, if a police detective was a Utilitarian, and under pressure to find the attacker, then he would feel it was right to convict an innocent man just to make the greater number of people feel safer and therefore happier. This also means a Utilitarian could not differentiate between an accidental death and a Get more content on StudyHub.Vip

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Essay on Utilitarianism Utilitarianism There are many essays, papers and books written on the concept of right and wrong. Philosophers have theorized about moral actions for eons, one such philosopher is John Stuart Mill. In his book Utilitarianism he tries to improve on the theories of utilitarianism from previous philosophers, as he is a strong believer himself in the theory. In Mill's book he presents the ideology that there is another branch on the utilitarian tree. This branch being called rule– utilitarianism . Mill makes a distinction between two different types of utilitarianism; act–utilitarianism and rule–utilitarianism. Rule– utilitarianism seems like a major advance over the simple theory of act–utilitarianism. But for all its added complexity, it ...show more content... In the instance when an individual steals from another individual for his/her own self–happiness, others in society cannot deem this to be justifiable, even if it may be more beneficial to the thief to steal. Act–utilitarianism does not guarantee the protection to the victim of theft in this example because, it's more focused on the greatest happiness and not on the consequences for others' happiness. The greatest happiness may be given to either person in this situation depending on 'the stories' of each (i.e. the reason for thief). Therefore, the idea of right seems not to be absolute. Mill however, recognizes this as a problem and introduces the theory of rule–utilitarianism to compensate. Instead of looking at the consequences of a particular act, rule–utilitarianism determines the rightness of an act by an alternative mean. That mean consists of first finding the best rule of conduct, this is done by finding the values of the consequences that follow a particular rule; The best rule is the rule, which has the greatest overall result of any given action. Hence, one must follow the actual rules of one's society. To illustrate, 'one ought not to steal' because it is societies laws. Solving the issue of not recognizing the victims happiness due to the fact, according to Mill, that these laws are based on morally right objectives. However, rule–utilitarianism is just an impotent way around the problem presented by the simple Get more content on StudyHub.Vip

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Essay Of Utilitarianism We often speak of "utilitarian" solutions in a negative manner, but it's very probable that every human being will have to make a "utilitarian" decision at least once in their lifetime. Although I don't agree with most "utilitarian" point of views, in some cases utilitarianism is a demanding moral side that brings benefit for the sake of the majority. In this case, I give you a matter of life and death . For example, a person has been in car accident and needs a heart transplant immediately in order to survive. There are no suitable donors available, but there is a brain–dead person in the emergency room that is being kept alive on a respirator, who probably has only a few days to live, and who is a perfect donor. Without the ...show more content... By focusing on the overall happiness able to cause by this action, and disregarding self–interest and perhaps integrity, the consequences of this decision will definitely induce pleasure and satisfaction to a majority. There is a maximum utility being made because, a life is being saved, and a useful end is given to the less fortunate one. Another benefit is the deprivation of pain as only one man is to die, and just one family has to suffer. "The Fundamental Principle of Morality is the Principle of Utility or Greatest Happiness Principle." (Mill), this basically means picking the course of action that is more likely to produce the greatest good of the greatest number of people. "This is and has always been the fundamental principle of morality" (Mill). If you count the number of people who benefited from this "utilitarian" decision plus the amount of happiness or pleasure caused, it would definitely overcome the amount of pain caused plus the lives affected. Despite the fact that many do not concord with most "utilitarian" decisions, there exists occasions in which you have to consider their standards and ideals. The case mentioned above is an example of how if I were given the opportunity to decide, would certainly consider this "utilitarian" Get more content on StudyHub.Vip

Utilitarianism Essay examples This essay will present the key features of Utilitarianism and identify the problems of Utilitarianism to the extent to which they make Utilitarianism unacceptable. Jeremy Bentham founded Utilitarianism. He lived at a time of great change. With revolutions in France and America, demands were being made for human rights and greater democracy. Bentham worked on legal reform. Utilitarianism is associated with the principle of utility. Utility means the amount of satisfaction or pleasure that somebody gains from consuming a commodity, product, or service, i.e.; useful. The hedonic calculus, which is his system for measuring how good or bad a consequence is: At the time Bentham put forward the theory it ...show more content... Louise does not want to have sex. James, Peter and Matthew rape Louise, as there are three of them and one of her." This is the greatest good for the greatest number of people; however it is an immoral action. Bentham was an empiricist (the philosophical belief that all knowledge is derived from the experience of the senses), i.e.; food or sex. Bentham maintained that human beings were motivated by their five senses and that humans would always seek pleasure and avoid pain at all costs. To measure the pleasure he devised the hedonic calculus, which consisted of seven principles each of which could be given a numerical score. These consist of its intensity, duration, certainty or uncertainty, propinquity or remoteness, fecundity, purity and possibly wit. This should make it clear how beneficial the greatest good for the greatest number is. An example could be "A car is on fire. Inside the car is a doctor with the cure to cancer and your own child and you can only save one." Using the hedonic calculus you would save the doctor with the cure to cancer rather than saving your own child. This is the greatest good for the greatest number of people, even though it is not the greatest for the individual and family.

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However, while John Stuart Mill agrees with Bentham's fundamental principles and approves of his method he maintains that the Get more content on StudyHub.Vip

Utilitarianism Utilitarianism in its very basic form calls for putting benevolence into action, and by extension calling for people to be concerned with the good of a population in general. More or less, through such an ethical theory, we are encouraged to explore the full range of consequences of our actions and provides direction of how we can make difficult tradeoffs between different kinds of values in a humane and acceptable fashion. Therefore, the application of utilitarianism in our day to day decisions involves calculating the various consequences of different actions and selecting the one with the highest net benefit. The case of Theresa Ann Campo Pearson, popularly known as "Baby Theresa", provides for us an example in which the theory of utilitarianism ...show more content... It seems acceptable to the utilitarian to kill one person to save two or more. Yet this is an over simplified assertion. If such were the case, a few people would be killed every now and then for their organs to benefit the many. In fact, there have been cases in various parts of the world where beggars and homeless persons would be rounded up and their organs forcefully harvested. Such an action, in my opinion is wrong and totally unacceptable. But we still need to reconcile the utility principle with the situation at hand. If Baby Theresa was a normal healthy child, of course there would be no argument against her staying alive. Even a physical disability would not warrant the actions her parents proposed. It is safe to assume that had she had an estimated survival of a year, or at least two months, then harvesting her organs should have been a contentious issue. However, as an anencephalic, Baby Theresa being alive was doing her no good. According to James Rachels' benefits argument on Baby Theresa, being alive is a benefit only if it enables you to carry on activities and have thoughts, feelings and relations with other people–none of which Baby Theresa could Get more content on StudyHub.Vip

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Essay on Utilitarianism Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is a moral theory that has long been the subject of philosophical debate. This theory, when practiced, appears to set a very basic guideline to follow when one is faced with a moral dilemma. Fundamental Utilitarianism states that when a moral dilemma arises, one should take action that causes favorable results or reduces less favorable results. If these less favorable results, or pain, occur from this action, it can be justified if it is produced to prevent more pain or produce happiness. Stating the Utilitarian view can summarize these basic principles: "the greatest good for the greatest number". Utilitarians are to believe that if they follow this philosophy, that no matter what action they take, it ...show more content... Utilitarianism would say that the more "basic or lower–order projects" that comprise of these desires such as family and friends, are unimportant and detract from "higher–order project" of maximizing desirable outcomes (Singer: 341). The result of this reasoning would mean that all "lower–order projects" would have only the purpose of satisfying "higher–order projects." This would make one's only goal in life to make other people happy which is not the only cause for one's own happiness. An individual's happiness is also related to a varying range of projects or pursuits of interest of "lower–order projects." Integrity is a very important issue that is often overlooked by Utilitarians. This is often the case because integrity is closely related to "lower–order projects." If an individual did not have any integrity, he/she would a unfulfilling and boring life. Williams says that "happiness, rather, requires being involved in, or at least content with, something else (Singer: 342)." These "lower–order projects" are the defining characteristics of an individuals' existence and allow one to achieve personal happiness. "If such commitments are worth while, then pursuing the projects that flow from them, and realizing some of those projects, will make the person for whom they are worth while, happy (Singer: 342)." The examples that Williams' uses, shows us how two characters are faced with a dilemma Get more content on StudyHub.Vip

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