Argument For Criticizing Utilitarianism And Deontology

The statement “The greatest happiness for the greatest number is the measure of right and wrong” was coined by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham as the fundamental axiom of his philosophy. Bentham is respected as the father of Modern Utilitarianism; this strand of ethical thinking has not only been adopted by followers of Bentham, for example John Stuart Mill or Peter Singer, but also by economists and lawyers as a means of creating a fair society, with the highest potential for co-operation. However, although utilitarianism is widely followed and supported, there are many issues that arise due to its subjectivity

Bentham argues that humans only commit actions on the bases of utility, which is the desire to enjoy happiness and prevent pain. He is certain that utility alone governs human morality and that the principles of utilitarianism are morally correct for every situation. Bentham claims that the purpose of morality is to increase the happiness of society and every action should aim to benefit the greatest number. He argues that without attaining happiness for the greatest number, society becomes dysfunction. In Bentham’s perfect utilitarian society, individuals would put aside their personal desires which cause pain to society as a whole in order to promote universal happiness. Bentham, strongly suggests that utilitarianism has no uncertainties, period. After objective analysis under Utilitarianism, before committing any action an individual must first examine the happiness which can be extracted from the action and the potential harms that it can cause, if the action yields more pain to the greatest number it is immoral. Bentham concludes that pain can’t yield happiness and that for an action to be morally correct it must

Opponents of Act Utilitarianism attempt to argue that Act Utilitarianism (henceforth AU) does not account for justice when applied to ethical dilemmas. It is the authors opinion that these claims are factually incorrect and this essay shall attempt to prove this through analysis of common arguments against AU, and modifying AU to allow for justice to be more readily accounted for.

An ethical dilemma is a choice a person must make that weighs their morals and character. According to authors of Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum, Manual Velasquez et al. states “[It] tells us how human beings ought to act in the many situations in which they find themselves” (p. 275). That decision whether they decided if it was ethically moral or not, will affect them negatively or positively. In many different scenarios, people will apply different types of ethics that works the best for them and their situation.

Jeremy Bentham was one of the first philosophers to present a fully developed system of utilitarianism. He thought that we, as humans, should evaluate the consequences of our actions, determine whether each action is morally right or wrong, and tally the pleasure and pain that comes as a result of our actions. Is it right for me to donate to charity? Is it right for me to cheat on my government test? These questions we ask ourselves fall under Bentham’s theory known as act-utilitarianism because it focuses on the consequences of every action we perform. Bentham argues that the “greatest happiness of the greatest number of people” (Bentham) is how we should determine right from wrong. He also believed “mankind is under the

Bentham argued the idea that humans pursue happiness and avoid pain. It was not Bentham but Mill who coined the term ‘utilitarianism’ when he was revising Bentham’s work. Bentham was not interested in the existence of God to establish his theory of human nature and moral duty. He explained that two things, pleasure and pain rule all humans. He also created the idea of the principle of utility, which is the idea of ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’. Bentham believes that all humans should live their lives and make their decisions based on the idea of this. Opposite to Kant’s theory of morality, utilitarianism focuses on the end result rather than the intention. By Bentham’s theory it doesn’t matter if ones intention is bad, if the outcome creates happiness or pleasure for the

Samuel Adams (1722 - 1803), an American patriot and politician, once stated, "Mankind are governed more by their feelings than by reason"[1]. This statement is significant, as it undermines two of the primary ethical doctrines in philosophy - the deontological perspective defended by Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804) in Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals (634), and utilitarianism, supported by John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873) in his essay, Utilitarianism (667). Deontology and utilitarianism are contrasting theories. The former focuses on the intrinsic moral worth of our actions, whereas the latter argues that the consequences of our actions determine

Classical utilitarianism is grounded in the ‘greatest happiness principle’: the preservation of happiness of all of mankind (Mill, 2003, p. 138).The theory states that one must act so as to bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Another component of the theory which Bentham claims is that, “everybody to count for one, nobody for more than one.” (as cited in Mill, 2003, p. 138)

Bentham saw the fatality in mercy that lacked in Deontology, thus he focused on Teleology and came up with the Utilitarian ethics. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist philosophy that is to say the “end justifies the mean.” The method that Bentham applied to describe utilitarianism used math. Suppose for action X, how many positive and negative impacts can be yielded. If the positive outweighed the negative, then it is moral, and vice versa. The initial approach suggested that morality is “for the greater good.” Years later John Stuart Mill came to redefine the approach into “for the greatest good, for the greatest number of people.” Thus making it more blurry to decide if an action is right. The theory of doing the right action in Utilitarianism seems be transitive. Scenario one: save one who is drowning or help a person who is crying? It is clear that the drowning person should be saved. Scenario two: save on who is drowning or help 1000 people who are crying? According to Utilitarianism one would be obligated to help the 1000 because their happiness would yield to the greatest good for the greatest amount of

The theory behind utilitarianism is that one’s actions are right if it promotes happiness or pleasure and wrong if it does not promote happiness or pleasure. The main point to this theory is the principle of utility that states “according to which actions should be chosen that bring about the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.” (Palmer) Jeremy Bentham gave essentially utilitarianism its name and brought more attention to it than those before him. Bentham came up with a guide named the calculus of felicity that included seven categories for choosing among different possible activities to promote one’s happiness or pleasures. John Stuart Mills, also an utilitarian, added to Bentham’s calculus because he did

Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics that is concerned with overall happiness. Jeremy Bentham states that, “A thing is said to promote the interest, or to be for the interest, of an individual, when it tends to add to the sum total of his pleasures: or, what comes to the same thing,

The three main ethical theories that will be compared in this paper are: virtue, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics. Similarities and differences between each theory will be pointed out to further understand the concept as well as address ethics and morality between all three. To wrap things up, a personal experience will be shared to explain the relationship among virtue, values, and moral concepts as they relate to one of the three theories that will be outlined.

Throughout life, individuals are often faced with a multitude of moral dilemmas which can be difficult to assess given the factors of the situation and consequences, based on what is right and wrong. In this paper I will be assessing the Trolley Problem in relation to Utilitarianism and Deontology and will conclude which theory is the best way to behave given the situation. In the first paragraph, I will begin by discussing the Trolley Problem followed by the next paragraph’s which will explaining how Utilitarianism and Deontology would approach the situation. Furthermore, I will be discussing which theory I believe is right in regards to the best way to behaving in society, given the possible outcomes of the problem. Since the moral issue of killing and letting die are close in hand, Deontology is the only explainable way to behave because this theory approaches all situations in regard to what is fair and acceptable for all, while Utilitarianism takes an approach that degrades humanity and differs from person to person.

Jeremy Bentham is primarily known today for his principle of utilitarianism, which evaluates actions based on their consequences. He believes that an act is considered “just” if it generates the most happiness and the least pain for the greatest number of people affected directly or indirectly by that action. Bentham defines utility as the property in any object that tends to produce benefit, good, pleasure or happiness or averts the happenings of pain and unhappiness to the party where interest is considered. Hence, utilitarianism bases its understanding of right action based on consequences. (Wolff)

According to Bentham, all human beings are governed by two sovereign aspects: Pleasure and pain while each individual accepts the fact that we desire pleasure and unwilling to encounter pain. Then, he came up with his Principle of utility where: