Psci 231 Midterm Review

Section One: 1. What is, “Utilitarianism” and why is it important to the study of businessgovernment relations? Utilitarianism is a usually described as the greatest happiness for the greatest number. It reflects the action that produces the most happiness for people; meaning that an action is good if it produces a higher ultility of happiness. The thoery treats all members of a society equally, balances the inequalities in wealth between rich and poor people and justifies human acts. For example, consider a single mother stealing baby formlua. In this case, the mother is not harming anyone else and her baby is getting the food it needs. The happiness of the mother is justified because her actions did not harm anyone, and her baby having enough food increases her ulitily. John S. Mill would focus on the things that give people happiness rather than judeging actions based on religion and culture. Critisicsms of utilitariansim can also be made. It is understood that utilitarianism measures the total hapiness of people. However, it is not not right to assume that two people will have the same level of utility over something. An example of this can be depicted in the following scenario. Person A loves horses and buys a new sadle which gives her a total util of 50. Person B rather, is interested in sports car. Person B is uninterested in the saddle and would most likely produce a util of about 10. Therefore it is unpossible to say that levels of utility are compareable amongst people. Another criticsm of utilitarianism is that it fails to promote individual rights. Say that a mother likes hitting her child, and while doing so, her level of utility increases. Utilitarianism would support the mother and justify her acts because she is obtaining an increasing amont of utility. However, hitting your child repetively is morally and ethically wrong. But, in this case, according to utilitarianism, the utility gain of the mother is greater than the utility cost endured by the