Consequentialism Theory Of Ethical Decision Making

Decision Making Certainly, in one point of our life we have questioned ourselves on how to accomplish the most accurate decision in a moral dilemma. There are several philosophical ideologies that suggest that decision making for the given scenario (the two cancer patients) should be based on their own method of analysis as to what is morally correct. Today, we are going to focus in the Deontology theory and the two Consequentialism theories; called Act-Utilitarianism and Rule-Utilitarianism, which share the same base consequentialist philosophy. This Consequentialism theory establishes that our "Fundamental moral duty is to make the world the best place it can be.” (2014 The Fundaments of Ethics p.126) This claim states that an action is …show more content…
The principal claim made by this theory is constituted by the rightness of and action which matters purely out of duty. This concept is also known by The Theory of Duties. Immanuel Kant establishes that the only intrinsical value of this theory is that of good will. One of the features of this theory mentioned by the author, Russ Shafer-Landua, is that it uses the classic test of morality called “the golden rule” (2014 The Fundaments of Ethics p.161) which basically points out that we should treat others as we may want to be treated. Also, in this theory, deontologists say that in order for moral rules to be universal (be applicable for everyone) and necessary (a duty no matter the reality of the world), they cannot be based on something that makes society happy; since, what makes people happy can always change. Some of the similarities that these three theories have are that they seek the common good for all. However, at the same time, there are different units of analysis for the Utilitarianism theories. For instance, the unit of analysis of Act-Utilitarianism is measuring particular cases, while the unit of an analysis of Rule-Utilitarianism applies equally for everyone. In conclusion, this philosophy paper has the aim to explore the decision making of both Act and Rule Utilitarian theories based on the evaluation of a scenario and the decision made according to their understanding of what is correct. We explain the main Consequentialism Theory forms of Act and Rule Utilitarianism separately and compared them. We also evaluated the basic features of the two theologies of utilitarianism theory and deontology. This along with the objective of discussing what consequences the ideologies would have, if they were plausible