Utilitarianism: A Consequentialist Moral Theory

Utilitarianism is a consequentialist moral theory, where actions are judged right or wrong solely by virtue of their consequences which was introduced by Jeremy Bentham and later carried out by John Stuart Mill (Kemerling,2011). In regards to the consequences the only importance is the amount of happiness or unhappiness that was produced. In regards to utilitarianism it is believed that everyone counts as one, and no one counts as less or more than another person. And that a person should do what will promote the greatest number of happiness. According to utilitarian’s happiness can be defined in two ways, one by the pleasure and the absence of pain, and secondly by knowing it’s the only desirable end, or the final good. Every other desirable thing is so either for the …show more content…
A Kantian however would consider two questions before continuing with a decision, one asking can I rationally will that everyone act as I propose to act? Secondly, does my action respect the goals of human beings rather than merely using them for my own purposes? not sacrifice the two passengers since he believed that murder was absolutely prohibited even in cases where it would bring about more happiness than the alternative (Anscombe). As far as the scenario where the young person’s organs are being redistributed amongst five people, a Utilitarian would have no problem with this situation and would use the cost/benefit analysis to support their answer since it is a one-to-five cost-to-benefit ratio, and the person was involuntarily killed anyway. If the utilitarian factored in the parent’s happiness and wishes versus the five families, they would choose the five families since their happiness would outweigh the