Utilitarianism Key Features • • • Relativist Theory – – – – – – – No Absolutes Morality Depends on individual circumstances Happiness is the most important thing Quality and Quantity of Happiness need to be taken into account The Measure of Usefulness or Fittingness for purpose an action may have Teleological Ethical theories such as Utilitarianism tend to rely on the principle of utility It is the way of measuring how useful an action is in bringing about the consequences that we desire Equality
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5. Relativism Many different ideas have been given the name ‘relativism’‚ and the term has been used to pillory all sorts of views (sometimes for good reasons‚ sometimes for bad ones). It is mere posturing to say that you are for or against “relativism” unless you say what you mean by the term. Here I want mainly to discuss (and to criticize) a view I have encountered among students in philosophy courses‚ who say things like this: "What anyone believes is true for that person. What you believe
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Utilitarianism In his book‚ J.S. Mill attempts to build on Jeremy Bentham’s original idea of Utilitarianism. His definition of the moral theory is one that is grounded in Bentham’s original work but also extends to include remarks to criticisms of Utilitarianism. Mill believes that‚ like Bentham‚ utility is what is valuable to society. Utility‚ according to Mill‚ is the promotion of pleasure or the absence of pain. He defines this as happiness‚ which is why he refers to utility as the Greatest
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of people affected by it. According to Bentham‚ utilitarianism is the greatest happiness or greatest felicity principle. There are many types of this theory which include act vs. rule‚ two level‚ motive‚ negative and average vs. total. (Clifford G.‚ John C. 2009) In act utilitarianism‚ when people have to make choices‚ they should consider the consequences of each choice and then choose that which will generate much pleasure. The rule utilitarianism looks at the rules of actions which are potential
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UTILITARIANISM Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that holds that an action is right if it produces‚ or if it tends to produce‚ the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people affected by the action. Otherwise the action is wrong. This cost-benefit analysis is a form of utility calculation. People in business theory use utility curves to plot the results of various actions‚ choosing those that maximize whatever it is that they wish to achieve. This utility approach is not foreign
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Utilitarianism is a philosophical idea that can be used by individuals‚ governments or agencies‚ in which the purpose is to help pick an action to take. According to Utilitarianism‚ the action one should take show be the action that produces the most pleasure and the least pain for everyone involved. In order to make this decision‚ Bentham suggests using a hedonic calculus‚ through which you "...sum up the numbers expressive of the degree of good tendency‚ which the action has‚ with respect to each
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Utilitarianism is a moral theory that an action is morally right if that action produces the greatest of good and happiness for the most number of people. Therefore‚ one should act if and only if one’s action produce the greatest possible balance of good and happiness over bad and unhappiness. Being one of the method that people commonly use to decide the rightness and wrongness of an action‚ utilitarianism provides a clear guidelines of the determination an action’s rightness. In addition‚ utilitarianism
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1. The Super Express Fund Case shows that urgency doesn’t help to explain the difference in your moral judgments. It does this by making the envelope case (non-urgent)‚ an urgent case. Even then‚ if you don’t donate the money which could have been used to save the most urgently needy child‚ no one will think of you as morally wrong. 2. We are obligated to help even those people who‚ if saved‚ would live a wretched life because if you didn’t save them‚ it could have negative impacts on other people
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Act utilitarianism states that‚ when faced with a choice‚ we must first consider the likely consequences of potential actions and‚ from that‚ choose to do what we believe will generate the most pleasure. The rule utilitarian‚ on the other hand‚ begins by looking at potential rules of action. To determine whether a rule should be followed‚ he or she looks at what would happen if it were constantly followed. If adherence to the rule produces more happiness than otherwise‚ it is a rule that morally
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The philosophical theory that I choose to do is called “utilitarianism”. In a brief sentence‚ utilitarianism means the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Basically what this means is‚ doing the right thing is based on how many people your action benefits rather than how much it benefits you. According to the Oxford American Dictionary utility means “the state of being useful‚ profitable‚ or beneficial”(oxford dictionary‚2013). The whole theory is all about how much it benefits and
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