Jeremy Brett

“When you know how to use it, disobedience can be a virtue” (Coelho). This is what Wilde also similarly claims about disobedience being someone's virtue. Disobedience and virtue are known as two different things and are very opposite of each other, because of their meaning. But Wilde puts it into one category which determines disobedience as a good thing next to the list of goodness, righteous, honesty, kindness, and obedience. Since virtue already is determined as a high moral standard,…

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher most famous for his deontological ethics, also known as Kantian ethics. Kant believed that whether an action was right or wrong did not depend on the consequences, but on whether they fulfilled our duty as rational beings. Kant’s ethics are guided from the philosophical concept that is the Categorical Imperative, a wholly binding rule of morality that is justified as an end in itself. In the spelunker case, Kant would ultimately have the choice of killing…

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill’s ethical system of utilitarianism is a system that is based on the foundation of Jeremy Bentham’s principle of utility, which evaluates actions based on the actions’ consequences. Also, Bentham defines happiness as pleasure and states that the right action is the action that produces the most happiness for the greatest number of people. As a result, this system promotes selflessness. Mill further elaborates that happiness is pleasure and the absence of pain.…

The following paper critically assesses the applications of John Stuart Mill’s philosophy of utilitarianism. Through analyzing a notorious criticism of his doctrine, I will argue that utilitarianism is a reasonable moral philosophy, as while it is concerned with maximizing overall happiness, it still acknowledges the motivations of individual actors. This paper will: consider the problem of distributive justice, argue why it fails to acknowledge his emphasis on personal dignity and private…

The idea of natural constraints, or instinctive urges as part of human nature are principles in both Catholicism and Marxism. Catholics recognise the Marxist idea of natural constraints, such as hunger. Catholics believe that these needs are not necessarily sinful, but the satisfaction of these urges at the expense of others, such as greed and selfishness, are sinful. While Catholics believe that the only way to overcome sin is through God, Marxism states that natural constraints are overcome by…

What is justice? The common good? Are they just words of idealistic thinking, or do they have a deeper meaning? The way of life is difficult and full of fright. One of the new ways to think of this problem is communitarianism. It is a political ideology that is not only critical of classical liberalism, but a better way of life for humans to live and understand the freedoms that they deserve. Freedom and justice for the individual are something that communitarianism thrives on, unlike other…

What is utilitarianism? “Utilitarianism is the ethical theory that hold that actions are morally good in so far as they promote utility” (Restrepo, 09.05). In other words, utilitarianism produces optimistic or the greater good. Every day we all make personal moral decisions that make us utilitarian; hence it also allows us to promote the greatest happiness for our peers. Another way to understand utilitarianism is to understand that “Utilitarian’s determine morally good actions by appealing to…

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood shows an imaginative attempt to conceive a future where women have lost their autonomy and rights, and where the American government is run by conservative moral and religious ideals. Atwood creates a dystopian story which frames itself through Michel Foucault’s Panopticon. The panoptic establishment relies upon complete visibility, a hierarchical organization of power, and an enclosed space. These three concepts are all prevalent throughout the novel. The…

1. After I read the Ford case, I think Ford was operating under the Ethical Egoism Theory system at the time of this series of events. According to the textbook, I also thought about the Moral Relativists and the Utilitarian theory would be the best ethical system that the Ford was taken at that time. Because Moral Relativists do not believe in absolute rule, or even the social contract but on the pressure of the moment. It might also a little bit suitable for the Ford company at that time. But…

According to the ideology of Classical Utilitarianism, humans have the moral obligation to choose their actions based off what will result in the most net happiness. Happiness and unhappiness in this ideology is based off subjective experience in terms of emotion and bodily sensation. Therefore, happiness corresponds to a pleasant experience while unhappiness corresponds to an unpleasant experience. Classical Utilitarianism relies on the Greatest Happiness Principle, which states that the right…