Founding Fathers Of Utilitarianism
"Create all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the misery you are able to remove." - Jeremy BenthamJeremy Bentham created the utilitarianism school of thought, which is an incredibly useful ethical position. It can be most effectively defined by Wikipedia, "Utilitarianism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall utility." Utilitarianism has many benefits, but those benefits are harmonized with some major flaws. I will discuss the founding fathers of utilitarianism, the strengths and weaknesses of act-utilitarianism and rule-utilitarianism, other forms of utilitarianism, and recent philosophers of this school of thought.
This idea of the greatest good for the greatest number …show more content…
Another pro is that the decision maker does not have to weigh the pro 's and con 's of the decision, which can interfere with the greater good of the decision. Since decision makers aren 't always able to see all sides of the situation, with act-utilitarianism they sometimes make the wrong decision. However if a decision maker uses asset of rules to guide him through the decision making process he is most likely to have an outcome of greater good, even though he may not ever see the good …show more content…
Motive-utilitarianism is one adaption that proposes that our initial moral task is to instill motives within ourselves that will be generally useful across the board of the actual situations we are likely to encounter. Basically, it is the intention of the decision rather than the outcome of the decision that should be the main focus.
Two-level-utilitarianism is another adaptation that states that one should normally use 'intuitive ' moral thinking, rule utilitarianism, because it usually maximizes happiness. However there are obviously some times when we must think critically in order to decide what to do, and behave as an act utilitarian would. This means that a decision maker would normally follow the rules, unless the rules obviously did not apply, and caused more harm than good. The main problem with this is people rarely know when or where to draw the line, because it is easy to justify a decision when in a personal
This idea of the greatest good for the greatest number …show more content…
Another pro is that the decision maker does not have to weigh the pro 's and con 's of the decision, which can interfere with the greater good of the decision. Since decision makers aren 't always able to see all sides of the situation, with act-utilitarianism they sometimes make the wrong decision. However if a decision maker uses asset of rules to guide him through the decision making process he is most likely to have an outcome of greater good, even though he may not ever see the good …show more content…
Motive-utilitarianism is one adaption that proposes that our initial moral task is to instill motives within ourselves that will be generally useful across the board of the actual situations we are likely to encounter. Basically, it is the intention of the decision rather than the outcome of the decision that should be the main focus.
Two-level-utilitarianism is another adaptation that states that one should normally use 'intuitive ' moral thinking, rule utilitarianism, because it usually maximizes happiness. However there are obviously some times when we must think critically in order to decide what to do, and behave as an act utilitarian would. This means that a decision maker would normally follow the rules, unless the rules obviously did not apply, and caused more harm than good. The main problem with this is people rarely know when or where to draw the line, because it is easy to justify a decision when in a personal