Right Thing Definition

Act Utilitarianism refers to the end result was achieved based on the premises that took you there. Rule Utilitarianism on the other hand, focuses more on the amount of happiness, it produces in most people, sort of majority rule but with happiness as its key component.

According to Shafer-Landau, act utilitarianism holds “that an action is morally required just because it does more to improve overall well-being than any other action you could have done in the circumstances” (122). Doing anything that does not provide well-being is not inherently moral, thus utilitarianism requires one to act with well-being in mind at all times. Furthermore, one has to be impartial, meaning no bias can be involved regarding the group of people one affects. Some find this to be a desirable aspect of utilitarianism, while others use this as a premise to object utilitarianism.

Act Utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism are the two different forms of utilitarianism that Shaw and Barry distinguish. Utilitarianism refers to the greatest happiness principle for the most amounts of people. 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. If its consequences bring more net good than those of any alternative course of action, then this action is the right one and the one we should perform” (Shaw and Barry, pg.60). I look at this

Utilitarianism has been described as an act or a rule rather than a theory. We break this down into three parts:

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 view that the supreme principle of morality is to act so as to produce as much happiness as possible, each person counting equally” (Mill, 114). By ‘happiness’, this includes anything that is pleasurable and free of pain. Simply put, utilitarianism is the theory that an action is right, as long as it produces the greatest good for the most number of people (Peetush). The central point to this theory is that one must consider every consequence before taking any action. There are two classical forms of utilitarianism; rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism. “Rule utilitarianism is the idea that an act is right if and only if it is required by a rule that is itself a member of a set of rules whose acceptance would

Moral values are rules that help us make decisions about right and wrong, good and bad. Moral values govern the choices we make and our behavior. They form the foundation of our lives and what we want to become. Moral values can be derived from family, religion, society or even self. The moral values derived from family and self may not be subject to change but the values derived from the society and government are subject to change as the laws governing us change.

Utilitarianism is a moral theory that seeks to define right and wrong actions based solely on the consequences they produce. By utilitarian standards, an act is determined to be right if and

Utilitarianism can be defined as the theory that maximizes the benefits of the majority by taking the best action. Take the trolley problem, for example. From a utilitarian standpoint, the best action would be to save the most people regardless of the situation. However, because we are the ones to decide whether flipping the switch is a good idea or a bad one; it depends on who we are and what the situation is. For example, one person might agree with the utilitarian; and is confident that it is best to save the most lives as well. Another person might not be decisive and it will be too late, and another person might understand the situation, but will not do a thing about it because they question whether they should play god and decide on other

Act utilitarianism has two different versions. One versions says that an act is right if and only if its actual consequences would contain at least as much utility as of those of any other act open to the agent. Another version claims that an act is right if and only its expected utility is at least as great as that of any

Moral theory of utilitarianism is siting the right and wrong only on outcomes of an action over another action. The theory site that the action is right if it bring greater amount of happiness and pleasure for the greater amount of mankind. The expected utility is concerning about people preference over the choices that uncertain result. The difference between act and rule utilitarianism is that act utilitarianism care about the right moral action as a single act where the rule utilitarianism focus on the consequences of the action when the action repeated more than once.

For example, there is a hunter who wonders if it is morally acceptable to kill a deer. Act Utilitarianism analyzes the effects of this one action to decide if it is moral by assigning a value to the amount of pleasure and pain each individual involved will experience. In this case the hunter and his family will experience the pleasure of having food from eating the deer, many of the neighbors of the hunter will experience pleasure by having the deer off their property, and the deer’s family will experience the pain of the loss of a family member. If the outcome is that the net value of pleasure is greater than the pain caused by the killing of the deer, it is morally right for the hunter to kill it.

2. To begin, I will be defining both act and rule utilitarianism. In act utilitarianism, you determine the morality of an act by measuring the pleasures and pains for a specific situation Angeles 326). Act utilitarians take into consideration only those affected in the specific situation. However, rule utilitarianism determines the morality of an act “according to the good or bad consequences that ensue from following a general moral rule of conduct…” (Angeles 326). Good examples of those general moral rules are phrases like, never steal or never tell a lie. In any situation, people can use either act or rule utilitarianism to determine the correct course of action.

The theory of Utilitarianism states that actions should be judged as right or wrong depending on whether they cause more happiness or unhappiness. It weighs the rightness and wrongness of an action based on consequences of that action.

The rule utilitarianism looks at the rules of actions which are potential and looks at what would happen if a certain