Ethics & Society
Instructor: Joseph John Argument for criticizing utilitarianism and deontology
In this paper, I will discuss various ethical courses of action during ethical dilemmas. I will be examining how utilitarians and deontologists use different approaches to solve ethical dilemmas, by citing the text “Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues” and views of philosophers such as John Stuart Mill, Immanuel Kant and Jeremy Bentham. Using these, I will develop an argument for why I think the most ethical course of action varies from person to person, and why this is as a result of flaws in both utilitarianism and deontology
An ethical dilemma can be defined as a scenario when two or more ethical principles appear to come into conflict. In the trolley example, the ethical dilemma comes about as a result of having to make a decision to either save five people at the cost of two, or do nothing and take five people, keeping in mind that all these are innocent lives. The most ethical course of direction becomes a source of argument between two groups, utilitarians and deontologists, that have opposing views.
Vaughn explains that classic utilitarianism, which Bentham developed, is the simplest form of the theory, which ¨affirms the principle that the right action is the one that directly produces the best balance of happiness over unhappiness for all concerned.¨ (Vaughn 85) According to this theory, a utilitarian considers happiness to be the sole
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