...Explain the differences between Bentham’s and Mill’s Utilitarianism (25): Utilitarianism is a consequentialist ethical theory as the consequence of an action or rule is the main principle to judge whether an action is right or wrong. Act Utilitarianism is a teleological theory which was designed by Bentham, states that the act which produces the most pleasure was the most desirable act. Rule Utilitarianism is a deontological theory which was designed by Mill, states that that the act which produces the best act is the most desirable act - – “The greatest happiness for the greatest number”. The principle of utility states that actions are right if they promote pleasure but are wrong if they bring pain – “The greatest good [pleasure]for the greatest number.” Bentham believed that all pleasures are equal. However, Mill disagreed and stated that there were lower and higher pleasures. Firstly, Bentham stated that “quantity of pleasure being equal, push-pin (a simple child’s game) is as good as poetry” – he believed that all pleasures were the same. For example, the pleasure received from listening to music would be considered to be the same as the pleasure someone may gain from murdering someone. Mill disagreed with this. He believed that pleasures are split into two categories – higher and lower pleasures. Higher pleasures were satisfaction of the mind such as listening to classical music, and lower pleasures were pleasures of the body such as eating. He reasoned that desires...
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...Utilitarianism is a theory that some people adhere to the belief that the moral significance of an action is determined by its outcome. They believe that the greatest pleasure of the greatest number of people should be the result of the action that you make which will render it morally right. Jeremy Bentham was an ionic philosopher who believed 'an act is right or good if it produces pleasure and evil if it leads to pain'. Principle of utility is the measure of the usefulness of the purpose, that any action may have. If we believe that the best or the most moral action we can perform is one that will cause consequences X or Y to come about, then utilizing the principle of utility we must assess how likely action A or B will be participating to the consequence. Prima facie obligations are conditional more duties and a persons obligations to fulfil that moral duty depending on the situation at hand, e.g. if a fathers daughter was in a life threatening situation alongside another man who has the cure to cancer, he can only save one person, the moral decision the father would take is save his daughter, however that would be wrong because the other guy has the potential to save more people. 'Greatest good for the greatest number' is a quote Bentham followed. This quote implies an action should be done if it causes happiness for the majority, for example lying is moral if it leads to future happiness. Hedonic Calculus is a theory created by Bentham...
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...Explain how moral decisions should be made according to Act utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism. (30) The crucial difference between Jeremy Bentham's Act and John Stuart Mill's Rule Utilitarianism is their usage of the hedonic calculus. Bentham's Act Utilitarianism requires the use of the calculus in every single situation whilst Mill abandons it altogether. For example, a true Act Utilitarian would use the hedonic calculus to decide whether he should eat eggs, waffles or both for breakfast. He would need to input figures for each of the 7 for each of the three options and then choose the ones suits best based on the product of the calculus. This means that Act Utilitarianism takes a lot. Although it takes much longer to get an outcome whatever is that the decision is more likely to be the right one than Rule Utilitarianism, and since even something as dull as breakfast could lead to an important consequence, the added effort might be worth it for example waffles might provide the extra energy that day for an important life changing decision. Rule Utilitarianism as stated does not use the hedonic calculus but instead focusses around rules that generally lead to the greatest good. Parts of Mill’s changes to Bentham’s work however include the addition of quality to pleasure, as Mill put it: "it is better to be an unsatisfied Socrates than a satisfied pig'. In the case of the breakfast example, a Rule Utilitarian may decide that although he likes the taste of waffles more...
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...between Act and Rule Utilitarianism? Why is rule utilitarianism considered by many to be a preferable form of utilitarianism? Clearly describe each version of utilitarianism and explain which you think is to be preferred, and why. The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy defines Utilitarianism as ‘a system of ethics according to which the rightness or wrongness of an action should be judged by its consequences. The goal of utilitarian ethics is to promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number’. This is known as the Principle of Utility. There are two main versions of utilitarianism: Classical Utilitarianism and Preference Utilitarianism. Classical Utilitarianism describes utility as pleasure or happiness and looks at the balance between pleasure/happiness and pain/unhappiness. Preference Utilitarianism defines utility as the satisfaction of preferences. Act Utilitarianism vs. Rule Utilitarianism: Act utilitarianism is ‘the value of the consequences of the particular act that counts when determining whether the act is right’. It depends on the Principle of Utility for every situation. In other words, it depends on the consideration of the utility value of every distinct action. Rule Utilitarianism ‘determines rightness by finding the value of following a particular rule’. It uses the Principle of Utility in order to select the rules that mostly bring about the most utility. The distinction between the two is simply that Act Utilitarianism is based...
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...other, thereby minimizing conflicts. Limitation of this advantage of ethical egoism: * It offers no consistent method of resolving conflict if self-interests. Its not help resolving self-interest. * We do not live in isolated, self-sufficient communities, but rather in increasingly crowded communities where social, economic, and moral interdependence are facts of life and where self-interests conflict and somehow must be compromised. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism. Utilitarian maintains that everyone should perform that act or follow that moral rule which will bring about the greatest good or happiness for everyone concerned. Act utilitarianism Act utilitarianism states that everyone should perform that act which will bring about the greatest good over bad for everyone affected by the act. * The act utilitarian believes that one cannot establish rules in advance to cover all situations and people because they all different. Problems with these theory/Difficulties with Act utilitarianism: * It is very hard to determine what would be good consequences for others. * It is impractical to have to begin a new with each situation, to decide what would be moral in...
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...Utilitarianism Introduction In this report we would like to explain some of the concepts in moral ethics called utilitarianism. A famous philosopher called Jeremy Bentham introduced this moral concept in the 18th and 19th century. The utilitarian’s describes utilitarianism, as “the actions are morally permissible if and only if they produce at least as much net happiness as any another available action”. Also, this paper we would explain the concepts by John Stuart Mill Theory on utilitarianism. History During the 18th century, there was a revolution in Europe that not only affected the industries, but also government regulations like liberty, equality and fraternity. The result of this revolution helped in creating new modernized Europe. This...
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...deontology and utilitarianism. Compare and contrast the two theories, bringing out any problems or limitations you see in each. Bioethics Essay • Intro: Define ethics and define and introduce the two theories. (philosophical theories…) • Utilitarianism- example • Deontology- example- compare • comparing- evaluating and critically analyzing*- similarities and differences. • Limitations and positives* • Conclusion- summary of essay and own opinion, remember to justify your own views with reasons – don’t just state your opinions without arguing for them in terms of moral values. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-deontological/#DeoTheKan http://www.slideshare.net/kljonz/individual-ethics-essay-1 There are two major ethics theories that attempt to specify and justify moral rules and principles; these are utilitarianism and deontological ethics. Utilitarianism (also known as consequentialism) is a moral theory developed and refined in the modern world in the writings of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873).(1) Deontology is a ??? theory developed from the eighteenth century philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). The theory utilitarianism is the morality of an act that is judged by it’s utility. The greatest utility that is has for the most people; the greatest usefulness an act has for the most people. Utilitarianism states morality...
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...Describe the distinctive features of a Utilitarian ethical system The principle of utility states that actions are acceptable as long as they have an outcome of either happiness or pleasure. There are two main types of utilitarianism; Act utilitarianism and Rule utilitarianism. The two main figureheads of modern utilitarianism were Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Jeremy Bentham came up with the idea of the hedonic calculus. This was his system of measuring how good or bad a consequence is. It was also known as the greatest happiness principle. This meant simply that a good action is one that maximises general happiness or minimises pain. A bad action is the opposite of a good action. The hedonic calculus, used to decide whether actions are good or bad goes like this: 1) Its intensity- how intense will the pleasure or pain be? 2) Its duration- How long will it last? 3) Its certainty or uncertainty- How sure can we be that it will follow from our action? 4) Its remoteness- How far away is it in terms of time? 5) Its fecundity- the chance it has of being followed by similar sensations? 6) Its purity- The chance it has of not being followed by opposite sensations? 7) Its extent- To what extent will it affect others? We can use the hedonic calculus for examples such as abortion: 1) Its intensity- The pain of an abortion will be minimal physically but could cause great pain mentally. 2) Its duration- The treatment may only last for a few...
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...Examine the key features of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is an ethical philosophy which focuses on pleasure, and decides wether an act is morally right if it brings pleasure to the majority of people involved. The philosophy was proposed by the Englishman Jeremy Bentham(1748 - 1832), who was a consequentalist and believed that an act was good as long as it brought out a positive outcome, and that all acts done on the way would be justified if it ended with a postivie result. The theory`s historical context was that it strived to be a relovutionary social and political reform movement, propagated in the 18th and 19th century in the Enlightenment era. This era was identified by dynamic and permissive ideas about the human natures and societys impeccability. The theory is also made with a secular view, which means that it is not based on any religion and therefore can be used by anyone, both religious and non-religious. The fact that it focuses on the consequences of actions makes it teleological, which is a theory of morality that defines all actions as right if it brings out maximum pleasure. There is no fixed rules other than that the outcome has to be pleasure for the majority, which also makes Utilitarianism relativist. The principle of Utility is “the greatest good for the greatest number” which is a phrase coined by Francis Hutcheson. It shows the simple rule of Utilitariansism which is that the majority of people should be getting pleasure. Later, Jeremy Bentham used...
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...Running head: ACCOUNTING ETHICS: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DEONTOLOGY AND UTILITARIANISM Accounting Ethics: Differences between Deontology and Utilitarianism Yaa Mendez Liberty University Outline: Introduction with thesis Deontology: definition, concepts Utilitarianism: definition, concepts Similarities between deontology and utilitarianism Difference between deontology and utilitarianism Conclusion In 2013, the movie, The Wolf of Wall Street portrayed the dishonest dealings of people involved in securities exchange and trades of foreign and public companies. The actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, had an sensational thirst for wealth and learned of greed from his superior. This movie portrays the idea that greed, an unethical behavior, is an acceptable behavior that business individuals must cultivate to increase their wealth. So what is ethics? According to Spiceland, Sepe, and Tomassini (2007), ethics is “a code or moral system that provides a criteria for evaluating what is right and wrong” (Spiceland, Sepe, and Tomassni, 2007). Deontological theories base morality on certain duties or obligations and claim that certain actions are right or wrong regardless of the consequences that may follow from the actions. Deontology is a moral theory that depends on scriptures that are governed by rules, moral laws, and intuition. The word deontology is derived from the Greek term “deon” and “logos” which means the “study of duty” (Moreland, 2009). Moreland (2009)...
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...be so great that even a small amount could cause it to carry great weight. Mill makes a very convincing argument with his theory that many, including myself, can agree with. People live through life and try to maximize happiness in the best possible way and through different things. Certain things can give us instant pleasure and then they are completely removed from our life, such as an exotic vacation. Other pleasures can be long-lasting and can broaden our horizons, such as obtaining a degree. People should seek the higher intellectual pleasures rather than those lower pleasures obtained through sensation in order to truly achieve happiness. Utilitarianism is a belief that tends to view the total well-being of society as precedence. There are two types of Utilitarianism beliefs and they are both explained next. Act Utilitarianism is applied to individual concrete actions that define...
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...Utilitarianism— A Flawed Moral Theory Utilitarianism is an ethical theory founded by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. This theory stresses the greatest happiness principle. Actions that promote happiness are seen as morally acceptable while things that fail to promote happiness are seen as morally unacceptable. The pursuit of happiness is the key concept in utilitarianism. Rachel’s further explains this idea in The Right Thing to Do, “Utilitarianism is the theory that we should always try to bring about as much happiness as possible”(Rachels, 40). The term happiness when used by Rachels means the absence of pain or the presence of pleasure. I will argue against the theory of utilitarianism simply because it is too demanding and directly conflicts with moral common sense. At first glance, utilitarianism seems like an acceptable theory. The idea of promoting happiness is simple and widely appealing. Unfortunately, utilitarianism is not as simple as it seems. The concept should be rejects as it is not morally plausible. The first objection with the theory stems from the general structure where it directly conflicts with moral common sense. Using utilitarianism, when there are two different options being considered, moral common sense is one option, while utilitarianism is the opposite option. An example of this is seen while riots occur. Suppose riots are occurring in a town because citizens are being killed by an unknown suspect. As the person in charge, there...
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...theory of Utilitarianism takes its name from the Latin word ‘utilis’, meaning ‘useful’. It was first developed by Jeremy Bentham, a philosopher and legal theorist of the 18th century. Bentham sought to produce a modern and rational approach to morality which would suit the changing society of the industrial age. Utilitarianism basically says that happiness is the key to life’s conquest, and happiness that is the determination of right or wrong. So if an action’s consequence causes happiness, then the action is right, if it causes pain, or destroys happiness then the action is wrong.Utilitarianism may be regarded as a relativist, consequentialist and teleological system of ethics, giving no fixed moral rules and judging an action by its consequences or end result. Jeremy Bentham, and his disciple John Stuart Mill have become recognised as the two greatest sponsors of Utilitarianism. Bentham is known for his popularisation of the more traditional version of the theory, known as Act Utilitarianism. Although a student of Bentham, Mill could see problems in what he was being taught and so began to develop his own views in his own version called Rule Utilitarianism. Bentham’s main philosophy of Act Utilitarianism is to create the “greatest good for the greatest number”. So for example, if you are in a situation where lying would bring about the greatest good then, you should lie. Utilitarians support the view that it is the value of the consequences of the particular act that count...
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...will have a completely different view and an outside person could interpret each of those philosophies in a different way. In the eyes of a utilitarian, such as John Stuart Mills, it would be considered morally justifiable to expend resources on luxuries when those same resources could provide others with the necessities of life. John Stuart Mill was historically known for utilitarianism. This means that he believed the morality of an action is determined by their consequences and uses the principle of utility to evaluate those said consequences. The principle of utility states that actions are right insofar as they promote happiness and wrong insofar as they produce the reverse of happiness. The utilitarianism that Mill is known for is broken into two separate forms. The first is act-utilitarianism; this view says that the particular consequences of each individual action is evaluated by reference to the principle of utility. The second is rule-utilitarianism; this view says that rules are established by reference to the principle of utility and then individual acts are evaluated by reference to the rules. On top of...
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...Utilitarianism Overview 1. Fundamental Tenets of Utilitarianism 2. Standards of Utility/History of Utilitarianism 3. The Utilitarian Calculus 4. Act and Rule Utilitarianism 5. Criticisms of Utilitarianism 6. Concluding Assessment Basic Insights of Utilitarianism n The purpose of morality is to make the world a better place. n Morality is about producing good consequences, not having good intentions n We should do whatever will bring the most benefit (i.e., intrinsic value) to all of humanity. n The Purpose of Morality n The utilitarian has a very simple answer to the question of why morality exists at all: – The purpose of morality is to guide people’s actions in such a way as to produce a better world. n Consequently, the emphasis in utilitarianism is on consequences, not intentions. Fundamental Imperative nThe fundamental imperative of utilitarianism is: Always act in the way that will produce the greatest overall amount of good in the world. –The emphasis is clearly on consequences, not intentions. The Emphasis on the Overall Good n We often speak of “utilitarian” solutions in a disparaging tone, but in fact utilitarianism is a demanding moral position that often asks us to put aside self-interest for the sake of the whole. n Utilitarianism is a morally demanding position for two reasons: – It always asks us to do the most, to maximize utility, not to do the minimum. ...
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