Utilitarianism‚ by John Stuart Mill‚ is an essay written to provide support for the value of utilitarianism as a moral theory‚ and to respond to misconceptions about it. Mill defines utilitarianism as a theory based on the principle that "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness‚ wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness." Mill defines happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain. He argues that pleasure can differ in quality and quantity‚ and that pleasures
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Is Areteology a better way of approaching ethics than Deontology or Teleology? Areteology being the study of virtues and the word arête meaning excellence‚ Areteology can better be defined as the study of excellent human virtues (a divine study). It looks at the ultimate purpose of human life and what might result in practical excellence. It would aim to show people what an excellent human life is and teach people how to live by the excellent human virtues. In Areteology‚ the question normally asked
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Utilitarianism as an ethical theory Utilitarianism is the view that an act is right if it equals the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Utilitarians describe moral actions as actions that boost something good and lessen something that is bad. Virtue‚ knowledge‚ and goodwill are all good but they are only good if they give people a pleasurable existence. Pain is the only thing that is intrinsically bad. Utilitarians focus on the result of an act instead of the inherent
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to lie is self-defeating and goes straight away from the categorical imperative. The categorical imperative is a moral law that all should follow without exception. This lead into the key idea of deontology‚ which is that human beings are the control source of moral value. The value theory of deontology is people because
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Psychological Egoism Generally‚ every society has certain actions that are agreed upon as either being selfish or selfless. Psychological egoists try to raise questions about whether selflessness is even a possibility. James Rachel on the other hand tries to refute their argument. He believes that psychological egoism is the viewpoint that everything you do is selfish‚ because the motive behind any action is your own self-interest. (Sumner‚ pg.75) James Rachel mentions two arguments made by a psychological
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psychological egoism ` the argument of psychological egoism states that"people always (and neccesarily) act to promote what they take to be in their self interest whether it be short term or long term" which i believe to be true for various reasons. one main reason is this theory does not claim that people always act to actually promote their self interest short or long term. therefore this theory seems to be an explanition of actions that individuals have. the term self interest to me is defined
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There are a few reasons as to why I do not think an ethical egoist would agree with Socrates decision to stay and be executed. For example‚ egoists don’t care about the good cause‚ Gods cause‚ the cause of mankind‚ the cause of truth‚ of freedom‚ of humanity‚ and of justice‚ which will all Socrates does care about. Egoist believes that the only concern is themselves and that there is no meaning to good or bad. Socrates viewpoint about remaining in jail and being executed is all based on the idea
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Argument against Egoism I shall argue that the ideas of both psychological and ethical egoism are fundamentally flawed and should not be practiced. Egoism is flawed because it ignores the fact that people have a predisposition for compassion toward others that cannot be completely expelled from their motives of action. Egoism is also flawed due to the fact that altruism cannot coexist with egoism; therefore‚ because there is altruism in the world‚ egoism cannot be practiced logically. Egoism is also flawed
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Egoism is broken down into four main groups: Psychological egoism‚ Normative egoism‚ Ethical egoism‚ and Rational egoism. Egoism in general values the desires of the individual the most‚ and this is most important to the individual only if the desires match what is in one’s own best interest. Psychological egoism is more centered upon the individual’s unconscious impulse to always behave in one’s own self-interest‚ and is more of a law than a theory because it must always hold true‚ and if it does
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1 I) Utilitarianism…………………………………….P.3 II) Introduction to the main idea of Utilitarianism : The Principle of Utility ………………………….P.6 The Greatest Happiness Principle…………….P.9 III) Two kinds of pleasure………………........…P.11 IV) The Calculation of Utility…………………....P.15 V) The measurement of utility……………..…..P.17 VI) The proof of Principle of Greatest Happiness……………………………….…..P.18 VII) The Harm Principle ………………………..P.19 VIII) Assessing Utilitarianism…………………..P.21 2 I) Utilitarianism: + Whenever
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