Applied Utilitarianism The definition of this greatly fascinates me. It got me thinking about Capital Punishment. In society, there are rules that each citizen must follow to be considered a good citizen. The rules put in place are usually determined by an educated group of people who create these rules to benefit their community.…
The Opposition Between Utilitarianism and Deontolgy Utilitarianism and deontology oppose one another on many forums. However, it should be noted that these moral theories only are two of five known theoretical approaches concerning bioethics. Therefore, one cannot necessarily formulate straightforward comparisons between these opposing theoretical approaches as they ultimately comprise only a small portion of a relatively broad topic. The main opposing theme, as mentioned earlier, is that utilitarianism is more consequence-oriented in character, whilst deontology is not.…
J.J.C. Smart maintains that there are two types of utilitarianism and that one is the correct and true form of utilitarianism and the other is not. Smart gives many reasons why one is the right version and the other is wrong but ultimately, there is an objection to the version he defends. Smart believes that there are two types of utilitarianism, restricted and extreme. Restricted utilitarianism has moral rules that everyone must follow even if breaking the rule means greater utility. Extreme utilitarianism disregards the rules as long as more utility will come out of it.…
Most of the people would agree that Alex should not vote in favor of continuing to make the payments to the United Peoples Liberation Front. Rule utilitarianism suggests that some classes of actions, like making payments to terrorist organization, are obviously wrong regardless of their consequences as they have negative effect on the general happiness of the society as a whole (Brooks, 137). Therefore, a rule utilitarian would not favor the payments as following the rule, not supporting terrorist organization, should create a greater happiness. An act utilitarian may argue in favor of the payments as they are made to protect employees of the firm, creating a greater balance of good and evil . However, utilitarianism states that the end doesn't…
In fact, Baker Bill, (24), asserts that in Utilitarian theory, “the good is measured in terms of consequences of the action.” However, Chonko Larry (5) splits utilitarian theory…
In his article “A Critique of Utilitarianism”, Bernard Williams attempts to dismantle utilitarianism completely but refuting the fundamental principles of which it stands on. According to Williams, Utilitarianism requires the abandonment of moral integrity and allows negative responsibility to have much more weight than it should. In order to fully understand all aspects of this dispute, a brief explanation of utilitarianism must be laid out. It is then that we are able to look at Williams’ argument in which he puts forth two examples to strengthen his case against it. Finally, I will present my own thoughts as possible utilitarian responses towards the assertions made.…
Often in life, difficult situations arise that challenge our moral philosophy and it can be hard to make some choices. It is important to speculate upon such scenarios so that consistent philosophical ideals can be reached and that good arguments can be presented for certain motives. An example of a hypothetical case is if a trolley is moving along its tracks toward five people who will be killed if the trolley proceeds, but there is an option to pull a lever and divert the trolley to a different set of tracks where only one person will be killed. The choice is clear, and it is up to one person to either let five people die or choose to kill one person. By applying the concept of utilitarianism, I will argue in favor of choosing to kill the…
Even if the circumstances of the genesis of this work gesture to an occasional piece with a popular goal, on closer examination Utilitarianism turns out to be a carefully conceived work, rich in thought. One must not forget that since his first reading of Bentham in the winter of 1821-22, the time to which Mill dates his conversion to utilitarianism, forty years had passed. Taken this way, Utilitarianism was anything but a philosophical accessory, and instead the programmatic text of a thinker who for decades had understood himself as a utilitarian and who was profoundly familiar with popular objections to the principle of utility in moral theory. Almost ten years earlier (1852) Mill had defended utilitarianism against the…
Hi Frieda, Utilitarianism Ethical judgments are about something being good, bad, right or wrong should base on the extent to which, in any given situation, the utility is best served. One no longer think in terms of rules or duties, but whether the consequences lead to greater happiness or less suffering. Utilitarianism is flexible to meet the need of the hour.…
Rule utilitarianism is the idea that the action is only right when it follows the rules that were created as to help the most people. Even if lying to a person would help the most people but, because society rule on lying is that it’s wrong, thus lying to the person is not right but by telling the truth you follow the law which is right the right thing to do. Just like its other half, it makes up part of the idea of utilitarianism so it is indeed related to…
Objection: Ideas of proportionality and sanctity of life ideas are abstract just fronts for barbaric and cruel practice of retribution. How do you have proportionality for torture and sexual assault work? You can’t torture the torturer or burn the arsonist. Response: No need to focus on literal interpretation of proportionality focus is on alternative compensation like appropriate imprisonment.…
What is biodiversity? Introduction Biodiversity is defined as the variety of life on Earth at all its levels and includes genes to ecosystems, as well as the ecological and evolutionary processes that sustain it (Cardinale, 2012). The Earth’s biodiversity has long been a source of wonderment and scientific curiosity, but is increasingly becoming a source of concern. The sheer diversity of life is of inestimable value.…
Judith Jarvis Thomson wrote the article Turning the Trolley in order to refute Philippa Foot’s principle about killing and letting die. In Foot’s point of view, there are two duties, one of which is negative duty of noninterference, and the other duty is positive duty of goods and services. According to Foot, when there is a conflict between two duties, the negative duty of noninterference can overrule the positive duty of goods and services. In her example, letting five people die is permissible if the only alternative choice is killing one innocent person. However, when you have to either kill five people or kill one person, you should choose to kill one person.…
Utilitarianism is an ends-based method of ethical analysis. Rather than attempting to apply a code of moral behavior to the public, this approach focuses on the cost-benefit analysis (Blume and Heineman, 2007) of a policy and underscores its usefulness based on the overall outcome in society. In the case of medical conflicts of interests, the utility of the new policy centers on the creation of consumers that are more informed and the possibility for its largely positive outcome. The primary ethical dilemma presented within Austin Frakt’s article is that of the importance of the disclosure of all potential biases when discussing and applying merit to pharmaceutical and medical research.…