Utilitarianism

Paul Gauguin, a famous painter of his time, quit his job so that he could have more focus to pursue his artistic career. Not only did he quit his job, he left his wife and five children to travel to Tahiti and immerse himself in the culture. While he found great success in his endeavors, inspiring many other artists and solidifying himself as one of the most prominent artists of all time, he did not know that things would turn out this way. In this paper I will be drawing on John Stuart Mill and…

disrespects the authority of a government agency dedicated to protecting the public’s health. Ignoring the FDA is a deviation from the norms that have been democratically adopted for the greater good of American society, and therefore unethical per rule utilitarianism. Meeting regulatory standards for the at-home reports or discontinuing their use are more ethical options that abide by these societal rules. Arguably, fulfilling the company’s mission of helping people access and understand their…

Abortion is a highly debated issue. For many years, civilizations have deliberated on its ethicality and legalization without ever achieving a unanimous agreement. Throughout time, several moral theories such as consequentialism, deontological ethics and virtue ethics have all attempted to advocate plausible interpretation of whether abortion should be an acceptable thing to do. Every single one of these philosophies shows compelling evidence that they might possess the ideal way to approach…

Should animals be harmed to benefit mankind? This question has become quite a topic of discussion among philosophers in the last two centuries. Animal experimentation emerged in the early nineteenth century. Since then, it has provided humankind with innumerable benefits and advances in technology and medicine. As a matter of fact, it marked the birth of experimental physiology and neuroscience as we currently know it. For the most part, when it comes to Animal Rights, two ethical issues are…

Myrick experiments on several human subjects in order to reach the goal that no scientist or doctor has ever accomplished: to cure paralysis. Under the Utilitarianism of both Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill the experimental procedures performed by Dr. Myrick are justifiably Utilitarian. The fundamental foundation of the reasoning behind Utilitarianism is the maximization of happiness for the most amount of people, also known as the Principle of Utility. The experiments conducted by Dr.…

As societies grow economically, it is not surprising that money is involved in even a special event of the birth of a child. This is called surrogacy. It is not a new practice; it has been in place for centuries and was not formally recognized until the twentieth century. Surrogacy is the practice in which a family who is infertile and desperately wanting baby that carries their blood, pays a woman to carry the husband’s seed and give birth the baby. There are many ethical problems that arise…

coach, by applying the three ethical theories to justify the decision and impacts according to the final decision. The three ethical models; utilitarian, moral and justice will determine the right decision to make (Waddell, Jones and George 2013). Utilitarianism moral produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people (Côté, Piff and Willer 2013). The athlete’s selfishness is detrimental to their team, the coach and team cannot attain better performance. Moral ethics…

harvest his organs to save five other people. Using the teachings of John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant, from their books, Utilitarianism and Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, respectively, I can hypothesize their solutions to the trolley problem. Given no other information, it is likely that Mill would tell me to pull the lever because he is a proponent of utilitarianism, the moral philosophy that advocates acting to maximize the happiness for the greatest…

not only requires decisions based on the prioritization of treatment but also the effective use of resources. Decisions based in utilitarian triage must also consider the effects on future patient care, which is nearly impossible to predict. Utilitarianism calls into question the fairness of the allocation of scarce resources because emergency responders may provide care to many seriously injured victims instead of caring for an individual with a high chance of survival. This could adversely…

What is it that makes a good deed inherently good? Some may say that the goodness of an action is characterized solely by ones motivation to do good, while other’s believe that the end result is all that matters. As human beings we are free to choose our path in life, as well as our beliefs and our actions. This allows us to decide whether we want to act in a way that will cause harm or good. Since we have the free will to decide our course of action to get the results we want, it also comes…