Jeremy Brett

Summum bonum is the highest form of good according to the values and priorities in an ethical system. For John Stuart Mill, the summum bonum is happiness. Mill is lead to this belief by regarding happiness as the ultimate aim of humanity – to live a life as free from pain and as rich in enjoyment as possible. This is the ideology of utilitarianism, or Mill’s moral theory that judges the ethicality of an action following its utility. Mill’s argument of chapter 2 of Utilitarianism is defining the…

What is realism? According to Peter Brooks, realism can take up various forms: realism as the visual, or realism as the ordinary aspects of life, or realism as the ugliest aspects of life, as long the message is conveyed. Which message? That of reality. What is reality then? “We have a thirst for reality, which is curious, since we have too much reality, more than we can bear.” (Brooks, 1). Do we in fact crave reality that much? But then as he explains, what we crave is not actually reality.…

Utilitarian John Mill Stuart applied a scientific model to morality with the goal of creating the maximum amount of goodness called the Greatest Happiness Principle. The Great Happiness Principle is the morally right action that causes the greatest overall amount of pleasure, happiness, or the least amount of suffering. This can be applied in general by using the Happiness Calculus. The Happiness Calculus measures how much pleasure and pain will be brought out of a given situation. An example…

Utilitarianism is a theory that places the condition of right or wrong for an action or policy solely based on the outcome or consequences that result from it. A distinction between this theory and others is that it moves beyond the scope of one’s own interests and takes into account the interests of others. Contrary to popular belief, utilitarianism is not about providing the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people, but rather providing the greatest ratio of happiness to…

One of the most influential and prominent times of the American history was the Transcendentalist period. Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1800s. Transcendentalists believed in many aspects, however their central ideas focused on the inherent goodness of both people and nature. Influential Transcendentalists included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Frederic Henry Hedge. They believed that that the purity of the individual could be corrupted…

Altruism, a term used to define an act of selfless helping, has been an important figure in positive psychology. The term 'altruism' was introduced by Auguste Comte coined the term ‘altruism’ to portray dedication to the interests of others as an action-guiding doctrine (Paul, Miller, & Paul, 1993). Nowadays, the authors construed features of human altruism as an deliberate and voluntary act carried out to favor another person as the essential inspiration and either without a cognizant…

Section B: How these values are addressed in “Utilitarianism’s maximization of utility for all” and examine the unequal job opportunities and resource distribution? Utilitarianism Utilitarianism simply claims the maximization of the utility of the society in terms of happiness and consider a morally right act if it creates or maximize the overall happiness of the society (Kymlicka, 2002). Utilitarianism has two features which distinct it and makes it more powerful moral theory 1. Secular based…

POLITICAL PURPOSE IN NEW ZEALAND As discussed above, a charitable trust is an irrevocable trust established for charitable purposes, and is thus an exception to the general proposition that trusts for purpose are invalid. It is designed to benefit, ameliorate or uplift mankind mentally, morally or physically. In New Zealand, the matters regarding to charity is governed by Charities Act 2005. Section 5 of the Act explains the meaning of charitable purpose where it includes every charitable…

The ethical principle of acting for “the greater good” has its origins in Utilitarianism, a philosophical theory which states that an action is right if it benefits the majority in a given situation. Several realist skeptics of the theory however believe that for the greater good, one must do a little wrong. These individuals assume that any action done in the interest of the majority must be accompanied by a slightly immoral or unjust deed. This essay will discuss how this belief is invalid…

Evolutionary defence of the Epicurean’s argument that pleasure is the highest good My argument is that from the standpoint of evolution, hedonism is the most valid theory of the ‘good life’. The scope will be narrowed down to Quantitative Hedonism (Bentham, 1789), as there is only one kind of pleasure and its worth is measured on dimensions of intensity and duration. This essay will first lay out the importance of this view and its major positions which it stands for. After which, objections…