Legal Theory Utilitarianism: Pros and Cons Random House Dictionary defines utilitarianism as “the ethical doctrine that virtue is based on utility‚ and that conduct should be directed toward promoting the greatest happiness of the greatest number of persons. The father of utilitarianism‚ Jeremy Bentham believed that all human beings are motivated by minimizing pain and maximizing pleasure; therefore morality and justice should be determined on those same grounds. Utilitarianism teaches that maximizing
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Mill‚ John Stuart. Utilitarianism 2nd ed. Edited by George Sher. Indianapolis‚ IN: Hackett Publishing Company‚ Inc.‚ 2001. INTRODUCTION It can be argued that no other philosophical system has so permeated Western thought as utilitarianism. From the early Greek thinkers like Epicures to post-Enlightenment writers such as Jeremy Bentham‚ the expediency of utilitarianism has been defended and expounded. Perhaps the most famous proponent of utility for modern times is John Stuart Mill. Mill
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Collegiate Dictionary defines "ethics" as the "discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation‚" "a set of moral principles or value" or "a theory or system of moral values." Ethics assists individuals in deciding when an act is moral or immoral‚ right or wrong. Ethics can be grounded in natural law‚ religious tenets‚ parental and family influence‚ educational experiences‚ life experiences‚ and cultural and societal expectations. Ethics in business‚ or business ethics as
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Justice. Utilitarianism revolves around the concept of “the end justifies the means.” It believes that theoutcomes as a result of an action have a greater value compared to the latter. It also states that the most ethical thing to do is to take advantage of happiness for the good of the society. In the United States‚ controversy over capital punishment began in colonial
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Jacob Letourneau 110233960 July 22nd 2013 PP-223-OC1- Contemporary Moral Issues Prof. Simpson Long Essay Utilitarianism and its Paths The definition of utilitarianism is that the morally good thing to do is to pleasure the greatest number of people or animals for the least amount of suffering. For example you can rationalize killing a mass murderer before he kills even more people. Therefore taking the life of one person to save the life of many more. There are multiple arguments for
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the winners and the losers win because those who loose can attend the school‚ social club and visit the hospital bringing more happiness to most people in the long term. To a utilitarian what you do does not matter‚ but what comes out of your act. One can act in whichever way they choose but the result has to make many people as happy as possible(Brusseau‚ J. 2012 ).In utilitarian’s eyes the redistribution of more from the power to the rich will not unethical unless it is bringing more pain than
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1) Compare and contrast utilitarianism versus universalism. Utilitarianism comprises of two types of criteria which is rule based and act based. Rule-based utilitarianism argues that general principles are used as criteria for deciding the greatest benefit to be achieved from acting in a certain way. Act based utilitarians on the other hand analyze a particular action or behavior to determine whether the greatest utility or good can be achieved. Utilitarianism also includes the following tenets
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Cultural relativism is the moral theory that states that morality is created together by many individual groups of humans and morality therefore is not fixed‚ but rather varies from culture to culture‚ peoples‚ and different contextual situations. Cultural relativism preaches that certain practices are always morally permissible for a culture as long as the members of the culture see it as morally right. For example if a culture has a traditional custom that believes it’s okay for them to eat the
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In the chapter Consequentialism and Utilitarianism in the book Global Ethics an Introduction by Heather Widdows explains that Utilitarianism is the ethical rule that is based on the idea of happiness. (Widdows 45) After reading the case study Buying and Selling Body Parts‚ it has been determined that buying and selling body parts can viewed as unethical in some cultures while some cultures view this the process of buying and selling body parts as acceptable in certain cultures. In this analysis will
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Utilitarianism and Aristotelian Ethics John Stuart Mill and Aristotle are two of the most notable philosophers in history to date. Between Mill’s Utilitarianism and Aristotle’s virtue ethics you can see a large portion our cultures ethics today. Their philosophies are apparent in contemporary everyday life. Aristotle has written several pieces on virtue and friendship. The two most notable works being the Magna Moralia and the Eudemian Ethics. However‚ his Nicomachean Ethics were by far the
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