Examples Of Utilitarianism In Little Red Riding Hood

I believe that the story of Little Red Riding Hood follows the virtue ethics because virtues involves who a person is becoming. Little Red’s mother tells her to stay on the path while delivering goods to her ill grandmother, but after not listening to her mother’s instructions, Little Red stumbles off the path and picks flowers for her grandmother. Virtue ethics involves, “what we do when no one is watching”. I believe that since Little Red was alone in the woods, she could have easily eaten the basket of goods or decided to go over her friend’s house for fun. Instead, she picked out flowers for her grandmother out of love and no one was there to tell her what to do. This choice was out of her pure obligation and proves how Little Red is a genuinely good person. In her mind, she had to do this because she believed it was her duty and it was the right thing to do in order to make her feel better. Since virtue ethics involves who the person is becoming, Little Red is still learning from her mistakes and is brought to be a better person. When she is spotted by the wolf along the unwanted path, she learns in the end to always listen to her mother. I believe that Little Red follows the conduct to reason and faith and living the virtuous way of life because picking the flowers was a sign of love and respect. God always forgives others and would respect her decision on caring for his other creations. b) I believe that the story of Jack and the Beanstalk follows utilitarianism, the most famous consequentalist theory where it determines the good or bad and right or wrong based on the outcomes. …show more content…
Morality is about producing good consequences, not having good intentions. At the beginning of the story, Jack and his widowed mother are in poverty and sold almost everything to buy food. When their last cow stopped giving milk, Jack’s mother sent him to town to sell the cow. After meeting a man who said the beans would bring food and fortune, Jack traded the cow for them. The principle of utility says “you should be motivated to act not just for the sake of your own pleasure, but for the sake of others too.” After climbing up the beanstalk and stealing gold, a hen that layed golden eggs, and a harp, he did this out of desperation for his family. he wanted to make life for him and his mother easier and care free. The principle of utility also says that the right choice is the one that results in the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. The two people, Jack and his mother, would result in this greatest amount of happiness than the one giant, therefore, this is an act of utilitarianism. c) I believe The Little Mermaid follows the idea of relativism because there are two cultures in the story, the culture under the sea and the culture on land where the humans are. In the Kingdom of Atlantica underwater, Ariel is unimpressed with the culture after her friend Sebastian tries to convince her of all the amazing events that happen under the sea. Although Sebastian may seem to know what is right for Ariel, morality is a private affair in the world of relativism. Any moral decision that is truly your own is right for you. Ariel thinks best of herself and believes she would be much happier on land where can expand her horizons by learning how to use a fork or how to bathe. She believes the human world is fascinating, and eventually falls in love with Prince Eric. Because of this, everyone should accept other cultures’ practices no matter how immoral they can be because what may be morally ‘wrong’ for one person in a particular culture may be morally ‘right’ for a person in another. When Prince Eric and Ariel get married, it may have been seen as morally “wrong” since a human is married to a sea creature, but relativism is the belief that there are no moral rules that apply to all groups and cultures. No group’s moral