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An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation by Jeremey Bentham.

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What is Utilitarianism? I believe that utilitarianism is the theory in which actions are right if they produce happiness and wrong if they don’t produce happiness. Happiness is what every human being look forward to. When making a decision, all possible outcomes must be ensured that it will lead to happiness. Utilitarianism is based on the principle of utility .Utility is the ability to be useful while satisfying needs. Utilitarianism is generally considered a moral theory that was found by Jeremey Bentham, a 19th century English philosopher and a social reformer. In 1923, he wrote a book called An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Bentham idea was to understand the concept of happiness and that it is the definitive …show more content…

There are two types of Utilitarianism; “act” and ‘rule”. An act utilitarian uses thought process. This means that every decision made must be well thought out before coming into a conclusion. This mean in depth calculation or solution to the problem. For example, a person wants to plan a trip for his honey moon, he/she has a long list of places they want to enjoy their soul mates with. Instead of jumping into a quick decision, an act utilitarian would sit down and calculate out the utility of all possible decision before picking which they desire to go to. While on the other side, a rule utilitarian uses the principles of utility to create set of rules and regulations by which they live in. Rule utilitarian’s are not incapable of being patient and go through each set of possibilities and outcomes. They just don’t see the reason to waste precious time on it. For example, a rule utilitarian, would have simple rules such as, do not kill, do not steal etc. The difference between Bentham and Mill was that Bentham was an act utilitarian and Mill was a rule utilitarian. Some critics believe that utilitarianism is unsatisfactory theory due to the fact that it may have some disadvantages. Utilitarianism only believes in happiness and it is the only thing that have intrinsic worth. People might do one wrong thing just to produce happiness. The ends don’t justify the means, for example, if someone kills a healthy person just to provide organs to help five other

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