Essay on Utilitarianism

The university may consider it against the rules for you, as a professor, to accept gifts or favors from students as this might influence student grades. In order to resolve this ethical dilemma, a comparison and contrast of Kantian Ethics and Utilitarianism is done to explore how each would reach their ethical conclusion based on their theorectical perspective. One primary belief of people who have adopted the Utilitarian position is that the most ethical action is the one that results in the greatest

Regarding the case of the Citicorp Building, utilitarianism and virtue ethics have interestingly similar views. Utilitarians view actions as obligatory if they maximize utility. Given the conditional for the responsibility of individuals in the Citicorp case, utilitarians would claim that each person accused in the case would be morally responsible. Since most utilitarians are focused on the actual results of an action, actual results utilitarians would condemn LeMessurier, the contractor who replaced

other topic, they have all come up with various principles some of which have similarities and others differences. Philosophers such as John Stuart Mill, Aristotle, Kant and Nel Noddings all differ in opinion. John Stuart Mill, developed on the utilitarianism principle or the “greatness happiness principle”. He believed that happiness was the ultimate desire of a human being. In addition, if people desire something, that’s evidence that it is good, and that ethically, something is morally good if it

Chapter 5 of Utilitarianism contains Mill’s response to the objection that justice is not based on utility. In his introduction Mill claims that an incomplete understanding of the idea and sentiment of justice, not a mistaken interpretation of utility, leads people to believe justice is inconsistent with utility. Chapter 5 gives an analysis of justice, its ideas and its sentiment, with Mill concluding that when properly understood, justice is consistent with and subordinate to utility, rather than

In the second chapter of “Utilitarianism”, John Stuart Mill argues against the misconceptions held by detractors of utilitarianism through definition. Mill defines utilitarianism through the concept of the Greatest Happiness Principle, in which the outcome which will serve the happiness and utility of the most people, thus creating the greatest overall happiness, remains the optimal choice; through this definition, Mill rejects the misapprehension that utilitarianism opposes pleasure, showing the

Utilitarianism: A Workable Moral Theory? Why or Why Not? 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

Capital punishment is when there has been a decision to kill someone for the crime that they committed. The death penalty in a utilitarian view, is to maximize happiness despite the consequences that can occur. A virtue ethicist would say no to the death penalty, because killing someone is morally wrong but we should take moral considerations instead of killing someone without moral consideration which is vicious rather than virtuous. Virtues are positive character traits that develops a person’s

Saving everyone would be the ideal option but, it is nearly impossible. According to the text, a Utilitarian feel that actions that cause pain are impermissible and actions that cause pleasure are permissible, which at times may be obligatory. I feel that a Utilitarian would kill one of the Indians to save the other eleven. Kantians feel that one has a moral duty to do only what is rational, simply because these things are rational. As a Kantian, in this particular scenario, if Jim kills one Indian

Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill, in his Utilitarianism, turns morality into a practical problem. His moral theory is designed to help one evaluate his moral principles and senisibilites and be able to ajudicate conflictions in moral conflicts. Mill postulates that actions are right so far as they tend to promote happiness and minimize pain. This theory manifests itself as an impartial promotion of happiness. Morally "right" actions are ones which promote the greatest happiness

equated to pleasure, thus he de developed a system of Utility Calculus. One of his followers, John Stuart Mill, however was dissatisfied, so he redeveloped the system into what is largely known today as the classic ethical theory of “Utilitarianism.” Utilitarianism as defined by MacKinnon and Fiala is a “normative theory that we ought to concern ourselves with the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people” (p.568). It is one of the most famous form of consequentialist ethics that is