Jeremy Oxley

Ethical Egoism would say the correct moral decision would be to lie to David so he will borrow you the money. Ethical egoism views one’s duty to themselves as the highest of priorities. It’s ok for the consequences of your actions to be positive for you and negative for others because your value is greater than theirs. Ethical egoism looks at the personal outcome and only the personal outcome matters. I would say that your child’s best interest would also be your best interest. If your child has…

Introduction: "Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness" (Mill, 1863). Utilitarianism is the ethical theory that happiness is the only thing that truly matters, or has intrinsic value to humanity. Importantly, its supporters believe that everyone's happiness matters equally, regardless of social status, wealth, or other superficial values, and in fact, people should always act to maximize overall happiness, or…

Utilitarianism is a branch of metaethics that focuses on the ideas of consequences, self interest, and unbiasedness. Instead of determining if an action is moral through the immediate effects, Utilitarianism skimps over the short term and instead focuses on the long term effects of actions. Actions are no longer based on intention but, rather the overall effects from those actions determines if the parent event was morally good or bad. Utilitarianism also emphasizes the idea that an individual’s…

Greene seems to consider himself a utilitarian by default, but what is utilitarianism? Utilitarianism is the belief that given the option of a bad outcome and a good outcome, rational people will choose the good outcome. Further they will try to weigh costs and benefits to get the best outcome the perceive as possible. It is a theory that believes that humans ought to act to produce the most good. A utilitarian is more likely to say that the one individual should be sacrificed to save the five.…

In utilitarianism, the line between pragmatism and morality is nonexistent as it asks individuals to consider themselves a part of a whole so they can act solely to benefit the larger unit. Essentially, Bentham's model determines whether an action is right or wrong based on the net amount of pleasure or pain it causes the involved parties. Furthermore, he specifies the various qualities that determine the value of the subsequent pleasure or pain, breaking them into seven categories that range…

On Happiness I: Kant’s view of the Concept (or Idea) of Happiness In this section, through an analysis of Kant’s Groundwork, Critique of Practical Reason, and The Metaphysics of Morals, I will demonstrate: (1) The elements of happiness and what happiness is about; (2) The concept of happiness is different for different humans; (3) The principle of happiness is the same for different humans; and (4) Why having the same content and principle of happiness for all humans is not a principle of the…

centuries, philosophers have questioned what makes an action right or wrong. Founder of Kantianism, Immanuel Kant asserts that the moral worth of one’s action is dependent on whether or not one is motivated by duty, while founders of Utilitarianism, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill claim that an action’s moral worth relies on the amount of happiness it produces, and for how many people. It is significantly easier to find an action to be morally right according to Kantianism than according to…

In this essay, I am going to write about the utilitarianism theory that defines the morality of actions as the greatest happiness principle that states that moral action is one that maximize happiness for the greatest amount of people and the categorical imperative which also taught us that, the rightness or wrongness of action does not depend on their consequences, but on whether they fulfill their duty. I believe this two theories might be correct in one way or the other, but as we have…

Utilitarianism, introduced by Jeremy Bentham, is to act in such a way that maximizes happiness for everyone. The goal is that it is natural, simple and it considers everyone. However, it does not consider everyone as it says it does. It is not about equality for all and a utilitarian will do whatever the option is, good or bad, to maximize happiness without considering an innocent individual. Utilitarianism considers what group of people holds a greater number of individuals, rather than a…

the Panopticon What would you do if you thought you were constantly being watched? Would you change how you approached certain situations or would it drive you to do things you never imagined? Throughout the Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses Jeremy Bentham’s design of the Panopticon which is based on Foucault's theory. Bentham states: “The Panopticon was to be a prison that gave the inmates the impression they were being watched at all times” (Bentham). Bentham’s reason behind this was,…