1. What are the key differences between utilitarianism‚ deontology‚ natural law ethics‚ and virtue theory? Utilitarianism Theory is the moral theory that argues that an action is right if and only if it conforms to the principle of utility. The desire for pleasure and happiness is universal. People seek to maximize their pleasure and minimize their pain. Thus‚ a morally correct action is one which results in the greatest possible pleasure within a given set of circumstances. The text highlights
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“Tyrant‚” should the patient be treated? Deontology clashes with utilitarianism when the patient is being diagnosed for his mysterious illness. For this situation in “Tyrant” a deontologist would say the ethical action would be to treat the patient and not based your decision on what the patient has done or plans to do. It would not be ethical to refuse him treatment or treat him wrong on purpose. Flip the roles to a utilitarianism‚ and they would say the ethical action would be the action that benefits
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most amount of people that are in need of the pleasure. With these measurements of pleasure and pain‚ utilitarianism can create the maximum amount of happiness. For utilitarians‚ the utility of happiness is the ultimate purpose to human life. The most important thing for everyone is to incorporate happiness and maximize it whenever necessary and for the most people in all of society. Utilitarianism is not an egoist theory. They do not intend on creating contentment for an individual‚ but rather the
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The concept of Utilitarianism is one of the most influential moral theory. It has another name is The Greatest Happiness Principle. The main idea is you can determine the action is morally right or wrong depends on outcome. If the outcome brings pleasure and happiness to the people‚ it is the morally right choice. On the other hand‚ if the result of your action bring more pain and unhappiness‚ it is morally wrong choice. This ideal is based on assumption that overall good as a judge of right or
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Explain the main strengths of Mill’s Utilitarianism. (25) Mill argues that the pleasures of the mind should take precedence over physical pleasure and that once basic human requirements are fulfilled the primary moral concerns should be for higher order goods. Mill rejected Bentham’s Hedonic calculus because he believed that other values were needed to be taken into consideration when measuring people’s happiness like freedom and emotions. Seeing as Mill succeeded Bentham as a famous utilitarian
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I believe Kant would agree with this because a person who offers their seat for an elderly person has good intentions and is doing something good for someone else and isn’t using them for a personal need. The theory of utilitarianism here applies when that person gives up their seat. It is for the greater good to all people. He or she is passing on the good act of offering a seat to an elderly person which in turn my result in more acts of the same kindness. It is for the
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Utilitarianism and Genetic Engineering In the past thirty years‚ humans are witnessing a huge revolution in the genetic engineering industry. Having identified most of the Human Genome‚ gene sequencing has become programmed and extremely fast‚ and laboratory techniques in molecular biology allow for in-vitro fertilization and transfer of genetic material. Gene therapy and repair based on stem cells research allows for replacement of a defected allele in the DNA‚ and even a whole damaged tissue in
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Most utilitarian theories deal with producing the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people. Negative utilitarianism (NU) requires us to promote the least amount of evil or harm‚ or to prevent the greatest amount of suffering for the greatest number. Proponents like Karl Popper‚ Christoph Fehige and Clark Wolf argue that this is a more effective ethical formula‚ since‚ they contend‚ the greatest harms are more consequential than the greatest goods. Karl Popper also referred to an
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Mill’s objection to Bentham’s utilitarianism‚ “…no better object of desire and pursuit than pleasure is a doctrine worthy only of swine.” He is basically arguing that Utilitarianism is an ideology that focuses all its efforts on creating the most amount of happiness and pleasure. This unfortunately can lead to a problem. In Utilitarianism‚ Mill argues if we try to live our lives in a way that is free of pain and full of pleasure‚ we forget that life is full of discomfort and that it is how it’s
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alone is almost certainly insufficient for determining the morality of international action due to the immense complications behind some of the situations‚ it serves as a useful guide that utilitarianism simply fails to provide. One example of deontology being a better calculus for action than utilitarianism was in WWII at the Battle of Dunkirk. At the Battle of Dunkirk thousands of British troops were stranded in France and needed to be transported back to Great Britain where they could continue
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