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Utilitarianism Term Paper Utilitarianism is defined as an action is right as long as it promotes happiness, and the greatest number of happiness should be the principal of conduct. In other words, if it benefits a majority of people than it should be set as a plan or a policy that is used amongst everyone. It is known for one of the most influential moral theory. According to John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism is, “…actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (114). Utilitarians believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better just by increasing the number of good things such as pleasure and happiness and decreasing the number of bad things such …show more content…
More specifically, it is an objectivist moral theory because if in any case someone has bad intentions, something that can be considered to be immoral to most. But it turned out to benefit the majority than it is ok. Comparing this theory to the virtue ethics theory, Utilitarianism is action based whereas virtue ethics is character based, it looks at the virtue or moral character of the person that is carrying out an action. They don’t believe in ethical duties and rules, or consequences of a particular action. They believe a good …show more content…
It gives a strong sense of purpose, you have to think about every action before hand and you think of things in a broader picture. It also helps with tough choices because you are able to think rationally and make the right choice. Utilitarianism helps articulate what the basic human functions are at a young age, meaning burning yourself would cause pain so anything that is hot are bad. Whereas laughing causes happiness so funny things are therefore good. There are some disadvantages to this theory It makes it hard to predict the future because it would cause people to constantly think about their actions based on the outcome making it hard for an accurate judgment. This theory also would make people wonder who decides what is good and bad because people think differently all the time. For example, some people believe that alcohol brings happiness while others would think alcohol is a poison and causes danger to the community. This would get people wondering who would then make the decision as to what would be immoral or moral. This theory could also cause favoritism, if someone were to make an immoral decision, how can a utilitarian decide if their loved one is out of line? Anyone’s instinct is to favor the loved ones. Over
Utilitarianism Term Paper Utilitarianism is defined as an action is right as long as it promotes happiness, and the greatest number of happiness should be the principal of conduct. In other words, if it benefits a majority of people than it should be set as a plan or a policy that is used amongst everyone. It is known for one of the most influential moral theory. According to John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism is, “…actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (114). Utilitarians believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better just by increasing the number of good things such as pleasure and happiness and decreasing the number of bad things such …show more content…
More specifically, it is an objectivist moral theory because if in any case someone has bad intentions, something that can be considered to be immoral to most. But it turned out to benefit the majority than it is ok. Comparing this theory to the virtue ethics theory, Utilitarianism is action based whereas virtue ethics is character based, it looks at the virtue or moral character of the person that is carrying out an action. They don’t believe in ethical duties and rules, or consequences of a particular action. They believe a good …show more content…
It gives a strong sense of purpose, you have to think about every action before hand and you think of things in a broader picture. It also helps with tough choices because you are able to think rationally and make the right choice. Utilitarianism helps articulate what the basic human functions are at a young age, meaning burning yourself would cause pain so anything that is hot are bad. Whereas laughing causes happiness so funny things are therefore good. There are some disadvantages to this theory It makes it hard to predict the future because it would cause people to constantly think about their actions based on the outcome making it hard for an accurate judgment. This theory also would make people wonder who decides what is good and bad because people think differently all the time. For example, some people believe that alcohol brings happiness while others would think alcohol is a poison and causes danger to the community. This would get people wondering who would then make the decision as to what would be immoral or moral. This theory could also cause favoritism, if someone were to make an immoral decision, how can a utilitarian decide if their loved one is out of line? Anyone’s instinct is to favor the loved ones. Over