Consequences Of Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that was proposed by John Stuart Mill and he claims that all actions become right or wrong depending on their real-world material consequences. That being said, no matter what the consequences are, they would be considered morally right as long as it promotes general happiness. Basically, the action does not matter when dealing with Utilitarianism, only the outcome, whether or not the ends justify the means. There are two kinds of utilitarianism; Act Utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism. Act Utilitarianism is that each and every individual action should aim to directly promote good while decreasing harms. What this means is that if one person is being harmed, as long as more people are benefitting from …show more content…
Whether or not it is for good, killing someone is seen as morally wrong by deontologists and there is no way around it. If one were to kill someone who is a serial killer, this would be acceptable according to act utilitarianism because only one person is being harmed, the serial killer, and many people are being saved, those who would have been killed by the serial killer. In the end the benefits outweigh the consequences. This is the idea in Dexter; a TV show in which the protagonist, Dexter Morgan works for the Miami Metro Police Department. On the side, Dexter is a serial killer himself, but there’s a twist. What Dexter does is hunt down other serial killers who have been let off because there is not enough evidence to convict them of their crimes. When Dexter finds them, he kills them. Deontologists would say this is wrong because they focus on idea of social contract, which is what gives local, state and national laws and the ruling government authority that everyone is expected to respect, but under utilitarianism, it is perfectly justifiable since he is sacrificing one for the greater good. If you do the math in this situation, the hundreds of people saved definitely outweigh the one killed. Therefore, according to utilitarianism, it is justifiable to consider Dexter a …show more content…
It does not matter whether these actions are legal or illegal, kind or cruel, truth or lies, good or evil. With this one can also think about the weighting of the situation and whether or not the outcome can actually justify these actions that were taken to get there in the first place. Since Dexter Morgan works for the Miami Metro Police Department, he has the ability to find out information about criminals due to the ease of access to their files, even if it is illegal. Dexter also is trained in martial arts and was trained by some of the best to find criminals. He has also studied the human body and has a boat for easy disposal of bodies. The evidence that Dexter is able to gather on people on his own and is always so quick and easy to find. It is also always so thoroughly damning in showing the wrongdoer’s guilt and intent to kill again. Lastly, there is an abundance of serial killers located in Miami who have slipped through the system. Based upon all of this, even though his actions may not seem okay, the fact that he killed someone is justified by the means he had taken. According to deontologists, none of this would be acceptable because everything Dexter does is illegal and in no way justifiable. Under utilitarianism and John Stuart Mill in Dexter’s