Jeremy Brett

Now let’s apply Utilitarianism to L’s case. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory. This means that what matters when deciding if an act was good or bad are the consequences of said action. With Utilitarianism, whatever action maximizes the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people is the right action (Tait, pg.10). The Philosopher Gilbert Harmon describes Utilitarianism as such, “ You ought always to act so as to maximize the social utility where social utility is…

Julian Savulescu makes the philosophical claim that people should select the child who is expected to have the best possible life based on the relevant, available information to maximize utility. The aim of this paper is to evaluate and analyze that claim, which he coins the Principle of Procreative Beneficence. I will briefly outline and explain Savulescu’s supporting arguments for claiming why selecting a child without disease traits is morally right; then, I will explain his argument for…

In this essay, I shall be discussing what constitutes the philosophical doctrine of utilitarianism while outlining the two key aspects central to it; the hedonistic principle, and the consequentialist principle. According to hedonism, pleasure or happiness is considered to be the only intrinsic ‘good’. On the other hand, consequentialism maintains that an action may be considered good or bad depending on its outcomes. We will see how these two principles work together in utilitarian thinking…

Utilitarianism What is utilitarianism? It is a theory of normative ethics that straightforwardly identifies good or bad, moral or immoral. It answers the question with an analysis focusing on whether a particular action or type of action makes people happy, and if so, it is good. Utilitarianism asserts that the right action is the one that most increases the happiness of the most number of people involved. It produces the most favorable balance of good over evil, everyone considered. The…

Mill’s main argument is that consequences of an action are the sole criterion of its rightness and wrong, but that is not completely true as other things besides consequences matter as well. Mill argues that consequences of an action are what determine whether the action is morally right or wrong. In his views, the object of all the actions is to increase happiness and reduce pain or unhappiness. If the end result of an action is, increase in happiness then the action is morally right, but if as…

There are two types of ethical systems in Ethics and Leadership, deontological and teleological. Deontological “approaches to decision making look at the action and decide whether it is right or wrong,” (Toni Romero, 2013). It is “an approach to ethics that addresses whether the motives behind certain actions are right or wrong instead of focusing on whether the results of the action are right or wrong,” (Emelda, 2011). An example of deontological ethical system would be the Ten Commandments…

the following quote: "It is better (happier) to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied." Mill’s quality driven hedonistic views differs from the classic utilitarianism ideals of Jeremy Bentham who only sought to maximize the quantity of pleasure. I agree with Mill in his writings because he believes that a higher and lower pleasure can only be decided by someone who has experiences both pleasures in person. A pig that is…

Even though The Declaration of Independence says we must pursue our own happiness, I say we shouldn’t because, as John Stuart says “Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way.” Darrin M. McMahon states in his article in In Pursuit of Unhappiness that happiness is more than pleasure and good things.(11) It is morally to dwell on your own happiness is sure to make you unhappy. In…

The case of Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California elicits the concept of duty. Tatiana Tarasoff, a young, single woman is unaware that she is being stalked by her aggressive ex-lover. The ex-boyfriend Prosenjit Poddar, has been seeing a psychologist to deal with his grief from the break-up, and during a therapy session he makes an indication that he wants to teach his former lover a violent lesson. His psychologist becomes torn between preserving his patient’s confidentiality and…

Utilitarianism has quite few kinds of branches. Among them, the two types are the main branches, quantitative hedonistic utilitarianism and qualitative hedonistic utilitarianism. Each branche were founded by Jeremy Bentham and his student, John Stuart Mill. And I think Mill’s qualitative hedonistic utilitarianism is more reasonable than the others. Qualitative hedonistic utilitarianism is mainly about higher level of pleasure. He sorts out the pleasures by the level of feeling. As the basic of…