Moral Philosophy Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism says that the moral and ethical thing to do is that which provides the most happiness or the least unhappiness to society. Sitting in class listening to the lecture on the moral theory of Utilitarianism it first sounded like the best moral theory ever. However as the classes continued and we learned more and more about this theory my opinion quickly changed. In this paper I will defend the idea that Utilitarianism is a failed moral theory.
As stated in James Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy Utilitarianism is a very old moral theory. Dating back to the 1700 's when it was first started by David Hume (Rachels, p.91). After Hume 's introduction of this moral theory, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mills better defined the idea (Rachels, p. 91). From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, the definition of
"Utilitarianism (from the Latin utilis, useful) is a theory of ethics based on quantitative maximization of some good for society or humanity. It is a form of consequentialism. This good is often happiness or pleasure, though some utilitarian theories might seek to maximize other consequences. Utilitarianism is sometimes summarized as, the greatest happiness for the greatest number." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism). As stated in class, the Utilitarian moral theory states an action is right/moral/good if it brings about the greatest good/happiness to the greatest number of people or the least unhappiness to the fewest. You must always consider everyone affected by the decision, including animals because they feel pleasure and pain the same way people do. Then you must calculate which option will maximize happiness or minimize unhappiness for a majority of people. According to Rachels, Utilitarianism follows the Minimum Conception of Morality by meeting both criteria set forth. The first being rationality, utilitarian do give reasons which support their beliefs, such as we chose chocolate ice cream because there were
As stated in James Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy Utilitarianism is a very old moral theory. Dating back to the 1700 's when it was first started by David Hume (Rachels, p.91). After Hume 's introduction of this moral theory, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mills better defined the idea (Rachels, p. 91). From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, the definition of
"Utilitarianism (from the Latin utilis, useful) is a theory of ethics based on quantitative maximization of some good for society or humanity. It is a form of consequentialism. This good is often happiness or pleasure, though some utilitarian theories might seek to maximize other consequences. Utilitarianism is sometimes summarized as, the greatest happiness for the greatest number." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism). As stated in class, the Utilitarian moral theory states an action is right/moral/good if it brings about the greatest good/happiness to the greatest number of people or the least unhappiness to the fewest. You must always consider everyone affected by the decision, including animals because they feel pleasure and pain the same way people do. Then you must calculate which option will maximize happiness or minimize unhappiness for a majority of people. According to Rachels, Utilitarianism follows the Minimum Conception of Morality by meeting both criteria set forth. The first being rationality, utilitarian do give reasons which support their beliefs, such as we chose chocolate ice cream because there were
References: Rachels, J., (2003). The Elements of Moral Philosophy, 4th edition. Boston: McGraw Hill. http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:uceIb7qXuWYJ:home.sprynet.com /~owl1 /guncontrol.htm+runaway+train+theory+utilitarianism&hl=en Example 5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism Class Notes were used as well.