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Utilitarian Theory

In: Business and Management

Submitted By mariegd
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What is utilitarianism? A doctrine that the useful is the good and that the determining consideration of right conduct should be the usefulness of its consequences. The utilitarianism theory aim of action should be the largest possible balance of pleasure over pain or the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Utilitarianism is a major position in normative ethics late 18th and 19th century. Utilitarianism is an attempt to provide an answer to the question what a man should do in order to produce the best consequences possible for all persons affected from the action he undertakes Utilitarianism trusts on some theory of intrinsic value, meaning that when something is held to be good, all other values are assumed to deduce their worth from their relation to this intrinsic good as a means to an end. . The utilitarian takes all the happiness and suffering or pain produced by the act into consideration independent of the fact whether arising after the act has been performed or during its performance. The happiness can be considered as the result of the gathered happiness of each person involved. Utilitarianism is based on the assumption that it is possible to evaluate the consequences of two different actions by comparing their intrinsic values. Utilitarianism tries to create a complex but fair system of ethics by establishing several generalizing principles. Nevertheless, there are various problems concerning the applicability of utilitarian theory, the main problem is the subordination of the individual under the common mark since each individual has a different perception of what happiness is and how it can be obtained. Due to the fact that in most cases the individual’s idea does not correspond to that of the others, it seems impossible to believe in the existence of man’s altruism to that high extent that the subordination of the individual under the common

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