Consequentialism

Mr. G, in his 60s, was lying on the cardiovascular surgical ICU bed with a flat affect, rarely responsive to his environment. His fingers and toes were necrotic and black. His tracheostomy was connected to the ventilator. His heart and blood pressure were dependent on multiple vasoactive drugs at the maximum dosage. He was also receiving nutritional support via a PEG-J tube. Despite all these life-sustaining treatments, his condition continued to deteriorate. Mr. G’s prognosis was grim, and the…

person was on a boat with five other people, and that boat could only hold five people total or it would sink, what course of action should be taken, if any? In discussing normative ethics, three major approaches offer solutions to this question, consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics. A consequentialist might determine that one person would have to be sacrificed for the better of all. A deontologist may forbid this type of action because it violates the premise of do the right thing…

depending on the utility of the action. The word utility was described as “The aggregate pleasure after deducting suffering of all involved in the action” by the founder of utilitarianism, Jeremy Bentham. Using this theory one can again, just like in consequentialism, weigh the pros and the cons of war, only this time look at them from a point of view that adds emotions to the equation. The basic question to answer for this theory would be, is the price of the action worth the sacrifices that…

The concept of self-sacrifice elicits thoughts associated with characteristics such as selflessness, courage, and utilitarianism. In a world that is black and white, free of complexity, self-sacrifice appears to be less of a challenge than in a world where the action of sacrifice may, in turn, bring upon greater conflict. Within the films Silence directed by Martin Scorsese and The Mission directed by Roland Joffe, characters must use philosophical reasoning through a consequential and…

Actions which are undertaken to reflect the ethical theory of Utilitarianism aim to provide the maximisation of good for a society. “Utilitarians believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better by increasing the amount of good things (such as pleasure and happiness) in the world and decreasing the amount of bad things (such as pain and unhappiness)” (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2018). In the context of the issue of capital punishment, this maximisation of good relates most…

Fed Up goes into depth on how big private corporations and the American government benefits from the exploitation and miseducation of it’s citizens as it relates to health. What the government does to hide the truth about food, sugar, and its relation to obesity is in direct violation of the Social Contract Theory. The Social Contract Theory argues that people should put their self-interest behind them and make decisions that benefit everyone rather than just make them better off. Corporations…

behavior under examination, the behavior of the wrongdoer should not be criticized or noticed. As a distraction, this excuse is a hateful attempt, focusing attention to a critic, elsewhere, "I do not mind! Why aren’t you going after those guys?" 3. Consequentialism, or “It Worked Out for the…

One’s values and beliefs about the world we live in are constructed through real life encounters, as well as teachings that they may have experienced though their lives. My personal paradigm is based around my ethical view on life. I adopted a consequentialist view which is also a very controversial because it brings the idea that you could make immoral decisions without consequence, as long as the outcome had benefitted the most people or had the best outcome. For me in most cases, making…

of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” This is essentially what utilitarianism is. You’re maximizing the “utility” of each of the parts of a whole. It is a form of consequentialism, which means that whether the action is justifiable or moral is dependent on the consequence of the action. This particular form of consequentialism just states that the best moral action to take would be one that maximizes utility, whether it is on an individual or group level. There are also two forms of…

potential to grow quickly where she is liked well, while no harm would have come from the imperfect products when in use in real life. Utilitarianism "Greatest happiness for the greatest number" , is what she must consider when deciding as with consequentialism this is the best course of action when making a sound…