Is Utilitarianism A Valid Moral Theory?

When an individual says that Utilitarianism is a good ethical theory because it justifies conventional moral wisdom they believe that because this theory maintains conservative principles and only has minimal mistakes, there is a valid purpose to favor this theory over any other theory that is presented. Utilitarianism does not support the notion of popular judgment but when comparing the other theories, utilitarianism does have fewer conflicts than any other theory. In other words although utilitarianism flaws in certain areas, it is the most precise in vindicating conventional moral wisdom. And so, when an individual claims that Utilitarianism is a good ethical theory, they are basing it upon it being successful to closely attain or preserve traditional ideologies.

Act utilitarianism is the philosophy that an act is permissible (the right thing to do) if and only if it produces as much or more good than any available alternative (class discussion). Act utilitarianism states that an act is morally permissible to do if and only if the good that the act produces will out weigh the good that any other available alternative act would produce. For example, if you are choosing between sitting at home all day or going to volunteer at a charity, act utilitarianism would state that you must make your decision based on which act will produce the most good. One must weigh all the positives and negatives that each act will create and whichever one produces the greatest difference is the morally permissible act to commit.

Supporters of the utilitarian justice model believe that the sentence of an offender should be based on what is good for society whether that is imprisonment, rehabilitation, or to serve as deterrence. This is a “forward looking” model unlike the retributive justice model. The punishment in this model has to be larger than the advantages of committing this crime (Banks, 2013). The utilitarian model seeks to prevent the crime from occurring by becoming a deterrent effect.

There are many ethical theories that are covered in Engineering Ethics; one of these theories is utilitarianism. A utilitarian believes an act is morally wrong or right based on the consequences of an action. The thought process of a utilitarian will be discussed in order to decide whether downloading online copyrighted files is morally right or wrong. In order to create a conclusion, the utilitarian theory must first be defined. Within the utilitarian theory, there are four distinctions that deal with the application of the principle of utility.

The two problems with utilitarianism, one of which questions whether pleasure is the only important moral value, and the other that questions whether it can function as the authority in moral judgments. I believe utilitarianism does not accurately describe how we always make moral decisions; it is difficult to see how many people might be affected by a given course of action; it is equally difficult to know how to assign importance to the various good or bad consequences that come about as moral decision-making is the one area we cannot account for with a

How is it then warranted according to utilitarianism?However, it is warranted according to its ability to promote future benefits to an individual or maximize the happiness of a community. Clearly, crimes tend to produce unhappiness, so in seeking to promote a state of affairs in which the balance of happiness over unhappiness is maximized, a utilitarian will be highly concerned with reducing crime. Traditionally, utilitarians have focused on three ways in which punishment can reduce crime. First, the threat of punishment can deter potential offenders. If an individual is tempted to commit a certain crime, but he knows that it is against the law and a punishment is attached to a conviction for breaking that law, then, generally speaking, that

Since its creation during the time of the classic Greek philosophers, the theory of utilitarianism has changed and developed. Various criticisms have been pointed out and expanded upon that expose key flaws in the theory’s design. One criticism that is made is that utilitarianism ignores justice. Critics claim that utilitarian minds would choose to take extreme, and potentially unlawful, action to ensure their quota of reaching the “maximum happiness” of the whole is reached. For example, if an individual decided that killing one person would bring happiness to a large group of people then the act would be considered moral. This, however, is not the case. In no instance is killing considered a “moral” action, but rather the exact opposite. Another criticism that is made is that people assign different values to various mental and physical

My parents came to the United States in 1974 bringing with them the customs they grew up with from Vietnam. It took several decades for them to truly assimilate to American culture, so I grew up with the strict parenting they experience when they were younger. My parents were very black and white when it came to any issues between my sister and I. They always taught us to respect others and to help when we can, however, they never explain why we should do it—it was just expected. Growing up I always knew what to do and what was expected from me, but I was never really able to verbally define what was right and wrong. It was not until I moved out of my parent’s home to go to college that I really had the freedom to make decisions on my own and

The utilitarian says that the good or the moral acts are all those that give the biggest amount of happiness and the less amount of suffering for the most of the people. Anyways it is hard to put exactly in a balance how good or bad something is, it can be basically assumed that stealing food when you are hungry is not so bad as punching someone for no reason. The utilitarians would take these acts, and add up all the benefits of the end, subtract all the bad parts of the “means” and if they end up with a positive number, then they would indeed will be the act morally justified. So, briefly, yes, the ends do justify the means only if the moral gains of the ends are greater than the moral losses by the

and between countries prevent united action in the common interest. Trust is the basis for all economic and social interaction. Justice and equity will be essential to achieve unity of action at the global level. It is unjust to sacrifice the well-being of the generality of humankind—and even of the planet itself—to the advantages which technological breakthroughs can make available to privileged minorities. Only development programmes that are perceived as meeting their needs and as being just and equitable in objective can hope to engage the commitment of the masses of humanity, upon whom implementation depends. The same is true of action to reduce global warming.

There are many ethical theories but this one, in particular, surpasses those of which that focus primarily on someone's personal interests but includes the significance and regard to those of other around them. Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that places the locus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes and consequences of choosing one action and or policy over other actions and or policies. There are a few problems that would arise from this ethical theory of utilitarianism just because of the fact it is about making the decision based on the greatest percent of overall happiness rather than primarily focusing on what is known to be the morally right go to choice. The problem this causes is not everyone may agree what they would

Utilitarianism is a moral theory that says any action is morally right if the consequence is positive or for the better. Likewise, any action is morally wrong if the consequence is negative or for the worse. In simpler words, if an action leads to happiness, joy, betterment of an individual or people at large, reduces pain and suffering or facilitates contentment, then the action is in accordance with utilitarianism or morally right. In the same vein, if an action causes pain, suffering, reduces joy or happiness, facilitates discontentment or causes outright harm, then it is morally wrong and thus against the tenets of utilitarianism. There are two different types of utilitarianism, one is extreme utilitarianism and the other is restricted

Utilitarianism is the moral theory that emphasizes “the greatest happiness for the greatest number” (Clark, Poortenga, 2003). John Stuart Mill was a philosopher who believed in the principles of utilitarianism. He believed that humans desire for happiness and pleasure; therefore humans would be motivated to act morally in order to obtain that happiness (Clark, Poortenga, 2003). Mill’s approach has strengths, weaknesses, and is not fully equipped to hold true for all circumstances.

Utilitarianism can be defined as a moral theory that is generally considered to have been founded by Jeremy Bentham who was a 19th century English philosopher and social reformer whom the panopticon is also attributed to. At the center of utilitarianism is happiness, which is in fact the ultimate goal of all human beings. To be happy and promote happiness. According to classical utilitarianism, when a person wants to act in an ethical way, he or she should strive to bring about the greatest possible amount of happiness for the greatest possible amount of people. This idea is known the greatest happiness principle. A similar idea is that a person should always strive, if incapable of producing happiness, to reduce unhappiness. These ideas

After taking careful consideration of these theories and the effects they will have on Luke as well as the stakeholders on either side of his decision. I advise that Luke remain loyal to ABC company’s confidentiality regarding the plans to construct the adult entertainment store. In doing so Luke can tell his brother to make any decision he feels comfortable with regarding his home, without disclosing any confidential information. Luke will avoid the major consequences of breaching confidential information with the help of utilitarianism and the universal ethics theory. Because of utilitarianism Luke will make sure that the majority of the stakeholders continue to benefit from his decisions, while also keeping himself within the law thanks