Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is a moral theory generally considered to have been founded by Jeremy Bentham‚ a 19th century English philosopher and social reformer. It is centered on the concept of happiness‚ and those who seek it. The idea is that all people seek happiness‚ and that it is the ultimate goal of all human beings to be happy. Therefore‚ according to classical utilitarianism‚ when a person wishes to act in an ethically sound manner he or she should strive to bring about the greatest
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The Divine Command Theory The Divine Command Theory states that whatever God says is so‚ simply because God said so. Meaning X is morally right because God says so and Y is morally wrong because God says so. This theory states that things are wrong or right simply because God says‚ not because of what we consider to be morally right or wrong‚ but just because of what God says. One argument that goes against the Divine Command Theory is the right becomes wrong argument. Example: If the DCT
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There are many different ethical theories that we have learned about throughout the semester. The three theories I have decided to use with this situation are Emotivism‚ Act-Utilitarianism‚ and Ethical Egoism. With each ethical theory‚ I will state why I chose the theory that addresses the situation and what it would tell Sarah to do. The first theory that address the situation is Emotivism. “Emotivism is the view that moral utterances are neither true nor false but are expressions of emotions
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Professor Innes Jerry “Sean” Hughes Mid Term Kant vs. Bentham Throughout the realm of philosophy there have been many arguments on the idea of ethics and what motivates human nature and guides our judgments. I will be focusing on two philosophers both of whom tried to answer that question. Jeremy Bentham whose views on what should be used to guide our judgments as to what’s wrong or right have been defined as utilitarianism. Focusing on a different idea using morals and a sense of duty
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In this paper‚ I will explain the different points of view of Kantianism‚ Utilitarianism‚ Contractarianism and their corresponding philosophers‚ as well as my own opinion about the presented case of the adulterous affair. First‚ I will begin by explaining how Kant would view this situation and what decisions he would make. In Kantianism‚ it is imperative to always say the truth and do that which is right. Regardless of the situation that one may find him or herself in‚ he or she must always say the
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1 I) Utilitarianism…………………………………….P.3 II) Introduction to the main idea of Utilitarianism : The Principle of Utility ………………………….P.6 The Greatest Happiness Principle…………….P.9 III) Two kinds of pleasure………………........…P.11 IV) The Calculation of Utility…………………....P.15 V) The measurement of utility……………..…..P.17 VI) The proof of Principle of Greatest Happiness……………………………….…..P.18 VII) The Harm Principle ………………………..P.19 VIII) Assessing Utilitarianism…………………..P.21 2 I) Utilitarianism: + Whenever
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Divine Command Theory (DCT) Definition: moral actions are those actions which are in keeping with the commands of God. Something is morally wrong "because God says so." The most obvious problem with DCT is the problem of how one determines which religious tradition has it right. To "which God" and the related religious texts should I look? Allah‚ Yahweh‚ the Christian Trinity‚ Brahma? The Qur’an‚ the Torah‚ the Christian Bible‚ the Bhagavad Gita? How does one determine which "God" is the
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Utilitarianism: Bentham – Hedonic Calculus Bentham was a hedonist – he believed that pleasure is good in itself‚ and other things are good in so far as they bring about pleasure and the absence of pain. “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters‚ pain and pleasure.” You could work out which action to perform by calculating which option brought about the greatest amount of pleasure: Duration – how long does the pleasure last? Remoteness – how distant is the pleasure?
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While in utilitarianism an action is held to be good according to the amount of utility and happiness it can produce; divine command theory believes that an action is only morally good if it is the result of the action being commanded by God. With respect to the argument of whether killing someone is morally worse than letting someone die; an advocate of divine command theory would state that as humans‚ we do not have the right the dictate whether
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the general principles of utilitarianism‚ including reference to both act and rule utilitarianism The theory of utilitarianism was devised by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)‚ an English philosopher‚ who gave us the general principle which is used in Bentham and Mill’s theory of utilitarianism and act and rule utilitarianism. The general principle which utilitarianism is based around is the idea of maximising pleasure and minimising pain. Bentham put forward his hedonistic theory in the book ‘The principles
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