How effective is utilitarianism in making moral decisions
How effective is utilitarianism in making moral decisions? (10)
Utilitarianism has both strengths and weaknesses when being used to make moral decisions.
Utilitarianism is a teleological method of making moral decisions, which means that the final decision is made based on the consequences of the action. It is based on the idea that we should bring about “the greatest happiness for the greatest number” and should make moral decisions based on whether the consequences caused pain or happiness.
Rule utilitarianism has a set of rules or laws that have to be followed in order to be good, these allow making moral decisions easier because the rules state whether the person was right or wrong in their actions, Eg. Murder is completely wrong in all circumstances, so it’s simple to say that the person was wrong to murder .This is a strength because it allows for a quick decision to be made, these rules can be applied to everyone and so are easy to follow. However, a weakness of rule utilitarianism is that it doesn’t take consequences into consideration when making the judgement, it is deontological, meaning that the rules will never change, they are the same for everyone. Rule utilitarianism doesn’t take into account that different cultures have different morals and standards due to different backgrounds, which can be unfair when judging their actions.
Act utilitarianism allows for the guidelines to change with time, this is a strength because people are in a constant flux, as society develops people’s morals are changing, an act which may have been considered out of bounds before, is acceptable now. Act utilitarianism allows for different cultures and backgrounds to be considered when making the decision, which is a strength because everybody’s personal beliefs of right and wrong are different. A weakness of classical utilitarianism is that it can be difficult to come to a decision based on all the different aspects of the situation. As there are no set laws, any act is
Utilitarianism has both strengths and weaknesses when being used to make moral decisions.
Utilitarianism is a teleological method of making moral decisions, which means that the final decision is made based on the consequences of the action. It is based on the idea that we should bring about “the greatest happiness for the greatest number” and should make moral decisions based on whether the consequences caused pain or happiness.
Rule utilitarianism has a set of rules or laws that have to be followed in order to be good, these allow making moral decisions easier because the rules state whether the person was right or wrong in their actions, Eg. Murder is completely wrong in all circumstances, so it’s simple to say that the person was wrong to murder .This is a strength because it allows for a quick decision to be made, these rules can be applied to everyone and so are easy to follow. However, a weakness of rule utilitarianism is that it doesn’t take consequences into consideration when making the judgement, it is deontological, meaning that the rules will never change, they are the same for everyone. Rule utilitarianism doesn’t take into account that different cultures have different morals and standards due to different backgrounds, which can be unfair when judging their actions.
Act utilitarianism allows for the guidelines to change with time, this is a strength because people are in a constant flux, as society develops people’s morals are changing, an act which may have been considered out of bounds before, is acceptable now. Act utilitarianism allows for different cultures and backgrounds to be considered when making the decision, which is a strength because everybody’s personal beliefs of right and wrong are different. A weakness of classical utilitarianism is that it can be difficult to come to a decision based on all the different aspects of the situation. As there are no set laws, any act is