Philosophy Reflection

When I first got accepted into Stuyvesant High School, I heard countless of rumors stating: “Oh the workload is terrible”, “The competition is so fierce” or “Out of schoolwork, extracurriculars, or sleep: you can only pick two.” I found it hard to let it faze me, since I graduated from one of the most prestigious middle schools. However, the rumors transformed into reality when I stepped into Mr. Nieves’ Freshman Composition Class. The workload at the beginning of the year was brutal, coupled with assignments from other core classes that seem unaware of the workload of other teachers. Reading assignments were a regular, and there were journal entries and occasional quizzes to keep us in line. What made it bearable was the friends I made in that class; everyone had their own opinion about the topic we were talking about, and listening to other perspectives really broadened my horizon and enriched my learning experience in Stuy. Another thing that this class has taught me is the importance of time management, a skill that I will carry on for the rest of my high school career and life. When I choose to sign up for Mr. Nieves’ AP American Literature class in my Junior Year, I was hoping to relive the discussion-based lesson plans and meet more outstanding peers. I was not disappointed, to say the least, reflecting through all the experiences at the end of the course. The lesson plans he laid out for us were an interesting mix between small lectures and class output, and what I

It is still so surreal to reflect back on my first semester as an incoming college student in the ENC1101 course, analyzing at my progression as a reader and writer in literacy. Since the first day of class I set in stone my goals for this class: receive a 4.0 GPA, develop my connecting theories skills in writing, and become more aware of objectives for each Unit throughout the course. All of these goals became achievements that not only make others proud but most importantly give me self pride. In order to earn the grades and achieve these goals, I went after every opportunity that I was given as an incoming college student, such as office hours and extra credit. By taking this course I have gained confidence with the utilization of literacy, and made an addition to my group of impactful literacy sponsors. Once students are finished with high school they assume that there is nothing else to learn beyond the stereotypical five paragraph essay, but they are so wrong. I was able to obtain so much knowledge about numerous course concepts from Writing about Writing, articles, and my professor. These concepts will carry on with me throughout a bright future of writing courses, job interviews, and any other skills that require literacy. The four outcomes listed below will help illuminate how I improved as a writer, by being a driven college student and going out of the way to earn my achievements in this course. In the first outcome I improved comprehending scholar texts,

Alternatively, Paternoster (2010), suggested that Bentham displayed a more developed deterrence theory model of human conduct. Bentham identified that human behavior is directed by the pursuance of pleasure and the evasion of pain (as cited in Paternoster, 2010). Bentham’s pleasure principle is defined by the benefits; while the pain principle is the costs (as cited in Paternoster, 2010). Bentham specified four elements of pleasure and pain; physical, political, moral or popular, and religious (as

So that is Bentham’s Utilitarianism Theory all explained through three parts, the Motivation of pain and pleasure, the Principle of Utility and the Hedonistic

Jeremy Bentham is a teleological/consequential philosopher or consequentialist, one who focuses on the consequences and ends instead of intention and actions. Bentham’s focus carries more weight than that of Immanuel Kant or John Stuart Mill and their views. Jeremy Bentham’s philosophy focuses on measuring pain and pleasure for the greatest number of morally significant beings through their actions. Bentham presents guidelines that measure the intensity, duration, (un) certainty, propinquity, fecundity, and extent of the pain and pleasure that a certain action beholds and uses these measurements to determine if the action promotes the greatest good (being pleasure in Bentham’s case) for the greatest number of morally significant beings (Hoff 2017).

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

1) An intellectual generalist is a philosopher whose area of knowledge has no specific focus and whose skills of critical thinking and capacity for discernment are nothing more than general intellectual ones.

Jeremy Bentham decided if things were ethical by doing actions that will result in the greatest happiness, or pleasure, for the greatest number of people or community. Bentham felt that pain and pleasure are what governs how people act and also how people should act. He also would measure pleasure and pain by using a hedonistic calculus system, meaning some actions and circumstances could be measured, such as certainty, extent, and duration. And these factors could be measured by the amount of pain and pleasure that would be caused due to them, the greatest number of people that would be effected and for how long, and so this would then decide what action would be the best ethical decision to choose for the greater good

Bentham’s concern was upon utilitarianism which assumes the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers. He believes that individuals weigh the probabilities of present and future pleasures against those of present and future pain (Postema, 1998).

Though the terms act and rule utility came after the time of Bentham and Mill, it can still be noted that Bentham was clearly an act utilitarian and the Mill was a rule utilitarian. This paper will cover two subjects of discussion related to utility, Bentham, and Mill. The first is a consideration of the way in which Bentham goes about reconciling the ethical hedonist he promotes with the psychological egoistic hedonism he endorses. The second is really three smaller issues: the way Bentham and Mill would direct us to apply the principle of utility, how this is comparable to the employment of the hedonistic calculus, and the possibility that the differences in their views may make us come to different moral decisions.

In the domain of moral theory there are many approaches to see what a moral action is. The aim of this paper is to evaluate a moral theory known as Utilitarianism. The idea of Utilitarianism is summed up in “The Principle of Utility” or better known as “The Greatest Happiness Principle” (Bentham 6). The principle proposes the idea that an action is right if it maximizes pleasure and minimizes pain to the greatest number of people. Numbers do not dictate the ethics or morality of an action. However, is there a way in which this theory could be utilized in minor situations? The purpose of this paper is to explain Bentham’s moral theory as well as to demonstrate why the theory is impossible to calculate. This essay will also discuss arguments for and against Bentham’s theory in order to demonstrate that it is not applicable to large-scale scenarios due to the complexity of the theory.

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:

Over the course of the semester I had the opportunity to read a variety of history's most famous philosophers works, from Socrates, Descartes, all the way to Aquinas. As I read I came to realize that while they were all very smart and were all well read not a single philosopher seemed to have a solid answer for anything. I learned a lot from philosophy 1010 this semester, but what i've come to conclude from it is that what i got out of philosophy is it’s important to ask questions, just as these wise men did.

Often when the term philosophy comes to play, people’s minds tend to reminisce of the greats, the founding fathers. Aristotle, Socrates, Julius Caesar. While I personally have read multiple philosophical writings in my life, I did not realize how prevalent it was in my daily life. Utilitarianism, a term I learned over the course over the semester proved to reflect who I am as a person. Utilitarianism, acting upon a choice that is agreed to bring the utmost “good”. We as humans are not one dimensional, there are copious factors that make up an individual. With multiple theories depicting how we act, why we acted so, and how we acted so can be reflected on philosophy. Ethical Egoism “In philosophy, egoism is the theory that one’s self is, or should be, the motivation and the goal of one’s own action.” (Mosely). These two theories have been a foundation of my current life, as well as the life around me. We can also apply these current theories to modern day events. Utilitarianism is the belief that one’s actions and morality should be judged by the consequences and products of those given actions, if they produce results that are “greatest good fort the greatest number of people” (Julia). Today, we have events that could fall into these two theories, of course certain events may lean towards one side and other events may lean otherwise. What comes to mind is the battle for Net Neutrality.

How do you know when you are improperly using your personal power? How do you know when your life is out of balance? How do you bring it back into balance?