Brief Description of week 2 submission:
At the beginning of the semester my understanding of responsible commerce was, for companies to build a socially acceptable business, that not only conformed to shareholders wants but to that of society and the environment. Social responsibility is about being transparent so that the business has the trust of the community. It is about looking after all people who have an interest in the business managers, to employees, the community, government, it is all stakeholders. It is important because by building a responsible business you build a sustainable business. One that will not go bankrupt through dodgy accounting practices like Enron, one which the directors of the company do not have a tarnished
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Utilitarianism is the notion that an action is right only to the extent that it causes more good than ill to be produced. The classic design of this position is that of the English philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill (Shaw, 2009). Bentham and Mill identified utility with happiness. Happiness is the only thing desirable as an end in itself and all other things are only desirable as a means to the end of happiness. From a utilitarian perspective therefore, actions are right to the extent that they maximise happiness or, at least, minimise unhappiness (Shaw, 2009).
There are many different versions of the theory, all trying to define what consequences are applied to and how they may be applied. One version, rule-utilitarianism, considers that a rule of behaviour is morally right if the standard should be applied not to individual actions but to moral codes as a whole (Shaw, 2009). The actions driven by the rule would result in benefits, or goods for all of society.
On the other hand, act-utilitarianism, the most common form used in many circumstances, looks at the consequences of every case individually and works out the benefits before taking a morally right action (Renouard, 2010)
It is important to note that Bentham was not particularly concerned with the happiness or unhappiness of individuals, for him it is the ‘common good’ that is the arbiter of right
Utilitarianism defined, is the contention that a man should judge everything based on the ability to promote the greatest individual happiness. In other words Utilitarianism states that good is what brings the most happiness to the most people. John Stuart Mill based his utilitarian principle on the decisions that we make. He says the decisions should always benefit the most people as much as possible no matter what the consequences might be. Mill says that we should weigh the outcomes and make our decisions based on the outcome that benefits the majority of the people. This leads to him stating that pleasure is the only desirable consequence of our decision or actions. Mill believes that human
Utilitarianism is the ethical belief that the happiness of the greatest number of people is the greatest good. Jeremy Betham and John Stuart Mill are two philosophers that were leading advocates for the utilitarianism that we study today. In order to understand the basis of utilitarianism, one must know what happiness is. John Stuart Mill defines happiness as the intended pleasure and absence of pain while unhappiness is pain and the privation of pleasure. Utilitarians feel the moral obligation to maximize pleasure for not only themselves, but for as many people as possible. All actions can be determined as right or wrong based on if they produce the maximum amount of happiness. The utilitarian belief that all actions can be determined as right or wrong based only on their repercussions connects utilitarianism to consequentialism. Consequentialism is the belief that an action can be determined morally right or wrong based on its consequences. Just like any other belief system, utilitarianism faces immense amount of praise and criticism.
Rule utilitarianism is a branch of utilitarianism that suggests an action is ethical if it follows the rule of greatest good. It is a moral rule that most people follow due to its greater benefits. It is a rule to judges people based on their actions, which follow the universal moral principles to result in greatest happiness.
Two different forms of utilitarianism are described in our text. The first is called act utilitarianism. According to Shaw and Barry, act utilitarianism states that we must ask ourselves what the consequences of a particular act in a particular situation will be for all those affected (p.60).
There are two main forms of this theory; rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism. Rule utilitarianism judges the rightness of an action by following a set of rules. These rules are set so that they provide the best possible outcome for everyone. For example, a rule utilitarian would say it’s always wrong to lie because, in general, telling the truth brings about the optimal consequences. A utilitarian applies these rules universally and without exception.
Utilitarianism is the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our actions (Shaw & Barry, 62).
For utilitarian philosophers, happiness is the supreme value of life. John Stuart Mill defines Utilitarianism as a theory based on the principle that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain and privation of pleasure” (Mill, Utilitarianism). This meaning that utilitarianism is determined by the calculation of happiness, in which actions are deemed to be good if they tend to produce pleasure, a form of happiness. On the contrary, they are evil if they tend to promote pain. Not only does Mill regard to the end product of happiness in actions, but also considers the motives of such actions. In his argument, Mill defends the idea that happiness as the underlying basis of morality, and that people desire nothing but happiness.
Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that holds the morally right course of action in any given situation is the course of which yields the greatest balance of benefits over harms. More specifically, utilitarianism’s core idea is that the effects of an action determine whether actions are morally right or wrong. Created with the philosophies of Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), Utilitarianism began in England in the 19th Century. Bentham and Mill built their system of Utilitarianism on ancient hedonism (pursuing physical pleasure and avoiding physical pain). Although both of these philosophers agreed on the basic principals of Utilitarianism they disagreed on what exactly hedonism is.
Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory, as explained by the philosopher Mill. Given several choices, a utilitarian would pick the morally correct choice by using the Greatest Happiness Principle (487). By looking at whether the consequences of an action will produce the greater happiness for the greater number of people than another action would, one can
One of the major players in ethical theories has long been the concept of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism states that in general the ethical rightness or wrongness of an action is directly related to the utility of that action. Utility is more specifically defined as a measure of the goodness or badness of the consequences of an action (see quote by Mill above). For the
The continuation of the Safe Schools program in New South Wales was a failure due to a lack of proper civic engagement. The outcome was caused by a number of contributing factors including a lack of communication between campaigners and the public, the government’s poor representation of young Australian citizens, and the lack of cohesion between school communities. The Safe Schools program had a primary objective to create an inclusive and supportive school environment for LGBTI+ students by educating students on the issues faced by the LGBTI+ community which would then, in turn, reduce LGBTI+ related bullying, harassment, and self-harm in schools. The program was created in an effort to help same-sex attracted, and gender diverse students
Utilitarianism can be generally defined as a way of thinking where one chooses an action based on the amount of happiness that it would produce. In the book Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues, by Barbara MacKinnon and Andrew Fiala, the authors state “Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism,” and that “John Stuart Mill explained it as ‘actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.’” (MacKinnon 95). This means that utilitarianism focuses on result of an action based on happiness and that decisions can be taken made by looking at possible outcomes of that decision. What Mill stated would be defined as “ the principle of utility or the greatest happiness principle.”( MacKinnon, 95). This principle is one in which could be
There are several theories that try to explain the morality of the actions; however, two stand out. the first is deontology, and the other one is utilitarianism. The former follow the idea that the consequences of you action hold no importance in what we ought to do. But rather, some actions are morally wrong or good by itself. The latter follows an opposite view in which the consequences of an action are what it makes an action moral. Specially, if that action produce the greatest happiness over unhappiness. In this essay I will focus on two Utilitarianism ramifications, act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. They both agree that consequences must be the greatest factor in deciding what we ought to do. Nonetheless they have one big difference. Rule Utilitarianism generalize acts and recreate the consequences of a rule. If the consequences are ultimately favoring, then it is morally right. By way of contrast, Act Utilitarianism evaluate each action individually, and similar situation would have different outcomes depending on the situation. There is no universal rule unlike rule utilitarianism.
Utilitarianism, defined as "the theory that an action is right if it seeks to promote the greatest amount of happiness in the world at large". This theory was started with the philosophies of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). "Utilitarianism gets its name from Bentham’s test question, “What is the
In this essay, my aims are to explain the definition of health, contrasted with a positive definition such as that provided by the ‘World Health Organisation ' (WHO) in 1974, with its positive and negative concept of health and the definition of disease and its connection to the social model. It will then be followed by the study of Mildred Blaxter (1990). I will also be explaining the definition of the ‘sick role ' which was introduced by Talcott Parson, with its positive and negative effects on the society. There will be an explanation of the doctor/patient relationship on the theory of the functionalist approach by a theorist called Barber (1963) and by also critically evaluating ways in which the medical profession exercises social control, plus the medical profession 's contribution to ill health and their strength and weaknesses. Finally, I will analyse the key issues relating to the political economy of the health industry.