Rule utilitarianism

(i) What are the main advantages of utilitarianism? (21 marks) Utilitarianism is a teleological ethical theory that aims to define moral actions as those which satisfy the principle of utility. This states that actions are good insofar as they promote the greatest amount of happiness, and in making moral decisions, one should act in the way which promotes the greatest happiness for the greatest number of individuals. Humans have always considered happiness as a fundamental end goal to strive…

Stuart Mill and Peter Singer base their ethical beliefs in the philosophy of utilitarianism. Both Mill’s essay Utilitarianism and Singer’s work Famine, Affluence and Morality explore the pursuit of happiness and its relation to moral philosophy. The doctrine of utilitarianism emphasizes the consequences of one’s actions as they add to the sum total of happiness. In Mill’s essay, he claims that the essence of Utilitarianism is summarized by the Greatest Happiness Principle. He goes on to explain…

the only way to be moral. It’s not the consequences from the actions that matter but to do them for the right reasons to begin with. The only genuinely good actions are out of respect for the moral rules. Acting in anticipation from reward or punishment are not moral acts. Morality is a…

of Jeremy Bentham’s moral theory of Utilitarianism, Act Utilitarianism. I will be presenting the objection to Bentham’s theory that, utilitarianism, ignores the motive and means of an action and chooses to focus solely on the consequences. I will argue that a being’s means of undertaking such action is just as important in determining morality as the consequences. I will also argue that this objection is sufficient in undermining the feasibility of utilitarianism. I will provide a modification…

Well-being and justices sometimes conflict (Fund of Ethics, p.118). Utilitarianism argues that the best life is a life of sacrifice, sometimes extreme. If the motivation is too produce good results, then the action can be extreme. Thus, this is the case with torture. Philosophers have discussed the hypothetical case of the ticking time bomb in which “a decent leader of a nation is plagued with terrorism is asked to authorize the torture of a rebel leader who knows or probably knows the city,…

In this paper I will examine the moral theory of utilitarianism as presented by John Stuart Mill in Utilitarianism. First, I will present the greatest happiness principle, which is the central idea of utilitarianism and its consequentialist nature, then establish how Mill defines happiness and pleasure. Next, I will explain the objection to utilitarianism which questions the practicality of the greatest happiness principle and the need for moral calculations in situations where moral decisions…

Utilitarianism is interesting because it takes primarily a consequentialist approach to ethic looking at the ends to something and looks at the pros or cons of an action, or what causes the most happiness versus the amount of generating pain from an action. Even though it sounds simple to compare the amount of happiness versus pain the equation that we have to use for utilitarianism does not always work the that it should and other flaws that we will go over in this essay taking an unusual…

Word Count: 1583 The Insufficiency of the Exponential Greatest Happiness Principle Utilitarianism is a moral theory in which one decides which action is preferable by which action results in the best balance of good over evil. John Stuart Mill writes about the greatest happiness principle in his essay, “Utilitarianism”. Mill’s principle utility is based off of utilitarianism. The principle of utility states that actions are morally permissible based on the fact that they promote more happiness…

What is Utilitarianism? Utilitarianism is the idea that "moral action should be about producing happiness in the world, the more happiness it produces, the better it is" (Garcia, Slide 6). The idea of Utilitarianism can be broken down into two forms; One being Act Utilitarianism and the second being Rule Utilitarianism. Act Utilitarianism is when "an act is morally right just because it maximizes overall well-being, or at least is expected to" (Garcia, Slide 6), while Rule Utilitarianism is when…

The purpose of this paper is to apply a specific ethical system to a moral issue. The ethical system and moral issues chosen was: Provide utilitarian arguments for euthanasia. I will discuss the essence of euthanasia, then define utilitarianism, and then finish by providing utilitarian arguments that support euthanasia. What is Euthanasia? Well, euthanasia is the act of taking one’s life in order to relieve them form their suffering. To undergo euthanasia, a person has to be in a terrible…