Pros And Cons Of Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is sometimes called consequentialism since the value of an act is determined by its consequence: “Do the action which will bring about the greatest good for the greatest number of people” (Duska, Duska, & Ragatz, 2011). Thus, one has to consider the benefits and harms of the consequences for every person affected. The theory argues that if an act does not produce a good result, it will not be considered a good act since the result is what determines the goodness of an act. But, in a more sophisticate form of utilitarian ethic, the act is still good even though it failed or did not produce the result expected (Geisler, 2010). In contrast to utilitarianism ethic, deontological ethic consider some acts that fail to be good because,