Utilitarianism In The Movie Matrix

David Sosa, author of The Spoils of Happiness, creates a new perspective to the “what is happiness?” conundrum. As we all pondered at the idea, I, for one never went into much depth. Sosa, intrigues us with a theoretical question based off a movie, The Matrix. Would you plug into an artificial intelligence that makes you think you are living a happy life? Well, after reading this article, Sosa himself would not. His thesis is: happiness is more like knowledge than a belief. In the following paragraphs I will discuss Sosa’s thesis and give my arguments.

153). In essence, utilitarianism is maximizing everyone’s happiness, which can almost be considered a universal acceptance (Boylan, 2009, p. 154). Jeremy Bentham is one of the proponents of modern utilitarianism and states, “nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure” (Boylan, 2009, p. 154). In business utilitarianism shares the nonmoral views that the best decision that had no moral conflict would be to maximize profit, which would be the greatest good of the company and its employees (Boylan, 2009, p. 162). Utilitarianism does not always hold true in some minds. Utilitarianism does not take into account motives of the people (Boylan, 2009, p. 165). “If one acts in accord with the general principle and its corollaries, then one is moral” (Boylan, 2009, p. 165).

Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics supporting the idea that the morally correct course of action is the one that maximizes utility, usually defined as maximizing totally benefit and minimizing suffering. By ‘utility’ in this sense we mean ‘happiness’ or ‘pleasure, or similar. Although there are many varieties,

In today 's society, we face many obstacles in our attempt to achieve the feeling of happiness. As intelligent beings, we try to solve these problems by taking the path that best benefits us. The theory of utilitarianism provides a solution to this but at what cost? What are the benefits and disadvantages of utilitarianism? Is utilitarianism an idea one should live by? What is utilitarianism? I plan on answering these questions within this paper and understand how they relate to everyday life. I will also look at arguments for and against utilitarianism. Then analyze the appealing and unappealing features to determine if utilitarianism should be followed as an absolute rule.

Correct! Utilitarianism is based on the principle of maximizing happiness (or any other measure of utility) for the greatest number of people, as well as minimizing unhappiness for the greatest number. The means of achieving this outcome is not as much of an issue as the actual outcome for the

     The Utilitarian belief asks the question, what would be the best for the greatest amount of people? Or in other words, what would be best for the majority? In our natural history, Utilitarianism has had a huge impact on how the American society operates. All the decisions, as a nation, are decided by the majority. The most popular example of this would be the voting for a new president to lead the county.

Journal #11 Ethical Frameworks Directions: In your journal, define the following positions, outline criticisms/ counterclaims, and then evaluate from your perspective. Moral Relativism: Diversity Argument: It wasn’t long ago that people really started becoming aware of the essence of moral diversity. It was discovered that affiliates of different cultures very often have completely different beliefs about what is considered wrong and what is considered right and usually act according to their beliefs.

Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory that judges an action on its outcomes and aims to maximize happiness. This means finding the action that generates the “greatest good for the greatest number”.

Utilitarianism is a moral theory that has long been the subject of philosophical debate. This theory, when practiced, appears to set a very basic guideline to follow when one is faced with a moral dilemma. Fundamental Utilitarianism states that when a moral dilemma arises, one should take action that causes favorable results or reduces less favorable results. If these less favorable results, or pain, occur from this action, it can be justified if it is produced to prevent more pain or produce happiness. Stating the Utilitarian view can summarize these basic principles: "the greatest good for the greatest number". Utilitarians are to believe that if they follow this philosophy, that no matter what action they take, it

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.

Utilitarianism is one of the most commonly used ethical theories from the time it was formulated by Jeremy Bentham and John Stewart Mill in the nineteenth century. In his work, Utilitarianism, Bentham “sought to dispel misconceptions that morality has nothing to do with usefulness or utility or that morality is opposed to pleasure” (MacKinnon, 2012, p. 53). To simplify the utilitarian principle, which is one of utility, one can surmise that morality is equated with the greatest amount of utility or good for the greatest number of people (MacKinnon, 2012). Also, with its orientation to the “end or goal of actions” (MacKinnon, 2012, p. 54), Utilitarianism thus, espouses the consequentialist principle, e.g., the evaluation of any human act lies not so much in the nature of the act or the drive behind the act but rather the result of the act (MacKinnon, 2012).

Utilitarianism is the argument that all actions must be made for the greatest happiness for the greater number of people (Bentham, 42). However, utilitarianism cannot always be the basis of one’s decisions due to the fact that people need to look out for their own pain and pleasure before consulting others’ wellbeing. I will first explain the arguments of the utilitarianism ideal. Then I willl explain why this argument is unconvincing. Ultimately, I will then prove why people consider their own happiness before considering others. Thus showing the utilitarianism view is implausible due to the need for people to consider their own happiness when making decisions or else they themselves will be experiencing the most pain and unhappiness.

Many people may question how the movie the Matrix relates to ethics, or any other ethical theories. While watching the movie, I can honestly say that this movie relates to several different ethical theories. Ethics is basically the principle of how we behave and response to certain situations. It also consist of how our motives should be solved. In the movie the character cypher betray he friend, for the purpose of his selfish goals. Ethics relates to this part of the movie, because he is doing it for his own good which is egoism. Egoism is the belief to deal with self-interest, and own motives. Besides hyper-reality you can relate this to epistemology. Epistemology is determining whether we understand reality. We know from the movie that reality is real, but do people inside of matrix know? People inside the movie have no way of knowing because in reality they thought that everything that was going on was real. Hyper-reality is putting together reality and fiction. The Matrix uses this through the whole movie.

The idea of Utilitarianism, and the greatest happiness principle were developed by philosophers John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham in the 19th century, and even has lineage back to Epictetus, utilitarianism coincides with the greatest happiness principle. The idea is that you should act in a way that would generate the majority of overall happiness, and focus on the consequences of your actions rather than the action itself (Driver, 2009), this goes along perfectly with the definition to be wise of maximizing benefit, because being wise means maximizing benefit. Furthermore, this means that good actions have good consequences, regardless of the intention of the action. This way, we can ensure that we ensure that we, as a society and individuals, make as many people as happy as possible, and through knowing that you are promoting happiness for others, you yourself can find happiness through that. Therefore, because we as sentient beings, do what we do as we think it will promote our happiness, thinking and acting like a utilitarian will ensure that our actions

Utilitarianism is a limiting ethical theory that fails to grasp ethically reality. “The greatest good for the greatest number” is not ethically right in every situation. Although the majority would benefit, the minority will heavily suffer. Considering the overall consequences of our actions, the good may not always outweigh the bad, but this does mean that the good will be the ethically right thing to do. One may think they are “maximizing the overall good,” but in reality, harming many.