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Making Decisions about Ethical Matters

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Making decisions about ethical matters can be a complicated and well thought-out process. To make things smoother and of a more efficient manner, there have been various systems put in place to provide rules and guidelines as to how to ensure that what is decided is morally right. Here, we will take a look at the view of utilitarianism, and discuss an important flaw it presents us with. Many articles include discussions that look at this in great depth, where it appears the once highly renowned system of utilitarianism has revealed to us various hidden flaws and complications. Under the wing of the utilitarianistic view, to determine something to be morally right requires that it minimises pain and suffering, while also having ideal or “good” consequences. Likewise, for something in this same sense to be frowned upon it usually includes more pain than pleasure or happiness and unpreferred or negative consequences (Robertson, Walter, 2007). This view has existed for only a few centuries, but evidently it has proven to be highly effective in making critical, practical decisions in many areas of society. The final decision is calculated and concluded by taking a look at the overall happiness and preference of individuals (Shoemaker, 1999). As will be discussed further in the latter, this totalling nature can pose problems. In the 1800s, Jeremy Bentham introduced the idea with regards to happiness, aiming for the greatest happiness in great abundance between people (Burns,

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