There are many ethical theories used to decide which actions are morally right or wrong. Philosophers create theories in which they describe imperatives or rules to help people decide how to conduct themselves to be their moral best. Some are very basic‚ while some are more complex. Philosophers may agree with the entire theory or may pick them apart and only follow pieces as they see fit. Two of these theories are the Natural Law Theory and Utilitarianism‚ which vary in how much they regulate behavior
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Paper #1 In A Critique of Utilitarianism‚ Bernard Williams argues that when following a Utilitarian approach for moral dilemmas‚ Utilitarianism might have us sacrifice or modify our moral integrity. Williams explains this argument with a hypothetical execution situation with protagonist Jim. Jim‚ who is a botanical expeditionary‚ accidentally wanders in the central square of a small South American town. There‚ he finds twenty Indians tied up in a row‚ with several armed soldiers standing in front
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deontological vs. utilitarian ethics Kant believed that morality is dependent upon reason‚ that to act rationally was the same as acting morally. He placed a high value upon duty in determining the moral worth of an action. Kant’s deontological ethics is essentially an ethics of duty or obligation. As such‚ he claims that the moral worth of an action depends solely on whether or not it was done exclusively from a sense of duty. If an act is done simply because one is so inclined‚ the act has no
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rationally‚ and finally acting upon what we feel is the best solution. He builds upon this idea of reason by discussing how an individual should try to find the “middle grounds” of every scenario by taking traits and looking at one extreme and comparing with the other and finding the trait that would be in the average of both of those two ideas (like the mathematical idea of adding all the integers up and dividing them by the number of variables). For example‚ he would look at traits like giving
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Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that assesses an action as morally right and just if it produces the most amount of net happiness. There are two forms of utilitarianism: act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism is the standard form‚ which considers all paths of the action that lead to immediate and long-term happiness‚ as well has the magnitude and how long the happiness will last. Furthermore‚ if all paths lead to the same amount of net happiness‚ each
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Where do you draw the line on what is right? Ethical theories are something that have been tossed around between people for years. The dispute over what is right or wrong is endless and has many ways of reaching an answer. Each of these theories that arise has both its benefits and drawbacks. No one theory can be perfect and fit everyone’s needs. For a theory to be successful it needs to have supporters. For it to have supporters people need to believe in it. For people to believe in it‚ it
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Comparing and Applying Theories of Development Psychology is a very vast field of scientific study of the human mind and behaviors. Just like all science‚ psychology uses the scientific method approach and use theories to promote their objective thoughts. There are numerous theories associated with psychology within various perspectives of sub-fields. A particular sub-field is Developmental Psychology and three of those theories include Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory‚ Erik Erickson’s
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Another deontological approach is from the perspective of religion. The religious point of view is not so different from Kant’s perspective‚ except that the universal principles come directly from religious beliefs. Faith‚ rather than reason‚ intuition or secular knowledge‚ provides the foundation for a moral life built on religion. In later years some philosophers have argued for virtue ethics‚ saying good ethics in not rules‚ rights and responsibilities‚ but is depending on character. Virtue ethics
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Utilitarianism is a moral theory that is considered to be influential in a society. A moral theory is an explanation of how the paradigms of right or wrong associated with actions‚ simultaneously explaining how one’s character can be considered good or bad. Through this moral theory known as utilitarianism‚ one’s actions play a key role. An individual who practices the utilitarian moral theory has right actions as long as it promotes happiness for the maximum number of people possible leading to
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Utilitarianism: “Actions are right in the proportion as they tend to promote happiness‚ wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” John Stuart Mill utilitarianism‚ 1863 Utilitarians founder Jeremy Bentham has a famous formulation that is know as the “greatest-happiness principle”. The definition of this is “the ethical principle that an action is right in so far as it promotes the greatest happiness of the greatest number of those affected”. Central Beliefs: There are seven
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