Utilitarianism, And Virtue Ethical Dilemmas

Utilitarianism: “The idea that an action is right, as long as it promotes happiness, and that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principle of conduct (Oxford Dictionaries).” This theory was thought up as far back as the 17th century, but didn’t become well known until late into the 18th century when Jeremy Bentham a legal and social reformer gave a powerful presentation of the idea. “Create all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you, will invite you to add something to the pleasure of others, or to diminish something of their pains (Jeremey Bentham).” Deontology: “An ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether

Utilitarianism is a practical doctrine that is widely accepted in modern society’s economics, politic, and ethics. Utilitarian is driven by the pursuit of happiness. For a utilitarian, everything that will be helpful in the pursuit is considered good. In utilitarianism, an action is good or evil based on its consequences on the happiness of an individual and the happiness of the community. Similar to other doctrine, utilitarianism is not without a flaw. Bernard Williams, in his paper Utilitarianism and Integrity, voices his primary concern in regard to utilitarianism by providing two concrete examples to demonstrate how utilitarianism is only concerned about the consequences of the action and not about the means used to get there. Williams argues that utilitarianism fails to acknowledge the integrity of a person because the ultimate goal of utilitarianism is to produce the greatest happiness overall.

Utilitarianism as an ethical theory is seen as 'an act that is morally correct if it results in the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people affected by the act'. (Crane, Matten, Chapt. 3). It is a principle that concentrates on the outcome of an act and compares the good outcome with the bad outcome and supports the outcome that brings the greatest amount of good for all stakeholders involved.

In this essay I intend on arguing the legitimacy of utilitarianism, and if its principles can be subjected effectively to society today. Utilitarianism, which is a common term in normative ethics, is a moral doctrine that coordinates and specifies evaluation and moral actions through three recommendations. These recommendations are the criterion of good and evil, a moral imperative, and a measured evaluation. A criterion of good and evil emphasizes on the happiness and stakeholders well being both in short and long term, and the moral imperative is the maximization of the good which gives the greatest happiness to the greatest number. A measured evaluation implies the measure of good and evil and the moral imperative

Although Hursthouse accepts that virtue ethics ‘…cannot tell us what we should do’, she nonetheless reasons in a different way to show how virtue ethics aids us. Furthermore, Hursthouse would refute virtue ethics being insufficiently action-guiding because we have v-rules in the form of virtues and vices to provide action-guidance (Hursthouse, 1999).

Ethics are a set of well found principles that control the doings of businesses or humans whether morally acceptable or not. One should consistently attempt to keep a check on their own ethical values and maintain their standards in order to be well reputed for the work they are engaged in. The values followed by them will affect the companies they are working for and based on them will the businesses have a downfall or progress.

For hundreds of years, philosophers have been creating new ethical theories, all with different views. Although, they might be different, many of them have close to the same ideas. Utilitarianism and virtue ethics have some similar views and both have some arguments that I really like. Duty ethics has some good viewpoints just like the others, they just contradict each other a lot, especially with utilitarianism. In my theory, everyone should always respect everyone, act on principles that could become universal laws, and never use someone as tools for your own good. I am choosing to adopt this theory because it is the very reasonable and people would like to follow it. I will explain the differences between these three theories and tell why

The utilitarian approach to ethical reasoning can be summarized as determining the action that will result in the greatest good for the greatest number of people. This approach is tolerant to the idea that an action may cause harm to some; however, if the action’s benefits are of greater impact than its detrimental effects, it should be carried out. To analyze an ethical issue under the utilitarian approach, one must first determine all potential actions that may be taken. Then, one must identify what the benefits and harms of each action would be and for whom. Finally, one should select the action that will yield the most benefits and the least amount of harm.

Utilitarianism is just one of many ethical theories used and studied in the world that we live in today. Many people would choose to disagree with the ideals that this theory embodies, but before someone chooses to disagree with it, they should know more about the theory instead of judging a book by its cover.

After filling out the Ethical Inventory again I found that Utilitarianism and Virtue Ethics are the two areas that made the most persuasive thinking for me. Utilitarianism looks at the consequences and weighs the positives to see if it is going to bring happiness to the greater number. Every situation is looked at from a pros and cons point of view and a decision is made from there. One statement that is on the inventory sheet says, “When I am trying to decide what the right thing to do is, I look at the consequences of the various alternatives open to me.” In this example for myself I usually don’t think about consequences and react on emotions. After reacting from emotions I think about the consequences and realize most of the time it wasn’t the right thing to do. There are many times that I react and then realize I could’ve done things differently in that situation. I think about my own self interest before I think about the effects of the greater number. I see myself now looking at the situation and seeing both sides of it. I look at the positives and negatives before I react on emotions. By learning more about utilitarianism and changing my thought process I see my virtue ethics in a different perspective compared to what I did before this class. All the virtues that are stated in the book are virtues I hold very deeply in myself. These virtues are courage, generosity, honesty, loyalty to friends and family. Courage was one I had a hard time with because I don’t always

Utilitarianism is a theory that delineates the bounds of morality with respect to actions taken by individuals in terms of what produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. The principle seeks to define first the morality of an action, allowing for the morality of a person to be derived based on the intent behind the respective action. The fundamentals of a person’s morality are then presented in a form that labels the person behind a morally defined action as either praiseworthy or blameworthy, a conclusion based directly on the intent behind an action.

It fundamentally means that nothing else really matters except the happiness of creatures that can be happy. This is the distinction between acts that attempt to maximize the good (utility) and acts that seek to minimize harm. Rachels describes utilitarian theory as being based on social reform in human behavior of which offers an alternative to natural laws. Utilitarians emphasize the deep connection between doing the right thing and causing happiness to make creatures happy. Some believe to do the right thing, because it’s the right thing to do versus doing the right thing for happiness. The theory comes with different Pro and Cons of making some happy or having happiness.

In its general form, the utilitarian moral theory advocates that an action is morally right if it serves the greatest good for the greatest amount of people.

Moral ethics and values-based dilemmas are ethical principles that difficult to handle at a workplace when employees have to choose what is wrong and right according to their own ethics. An effective ethics program must complement the values of the organization along with the values in the law. Good ethical behavior for any business is always a fundamental to its success. The main key for business owners and managements is to ensure all employees understand all the ethics. This paper discusses how Bank of America ethical principles can address organizational issues, what role do external social pressures have in influencing the bank ethics as well as how these issues might be relevant to organizational and personal decisions.

There are many contemporary ethical problems that societies face without having a solid response. Most of these problems come from the conflict caused by the different ways these problems can be interpreted. There are also many ethical theories that defend the different views to such problems. Among these theories we can mention Virtue Ethics, Utilitarianism, Kantianism, etc. I think there is one of these theories that is very interesting in nature: Utilitarianism. In this work I will be giving a brief explanation of Utilitarianism, as well as discussing the character of consequentialist or not consequentialist of this ethical theory. Also, I will analyze each of the contemporary issues studied in this unit based on Utilitarianism, as well as mentioning anecdotes that pertain to such conflicts.