Ethical Theory Examination Ethical Theory Examination An action can be considered ethical or unethical depending on the perspective. There are three main theories of ethics: virtue‚ utilitarianism‚ and deontology. Each theory uses different criteria to determine if an action is ethical. Although the idea of performing ethical actions is similar‚ each theory follows a different approach. The virtue theory of ethics determines what is right and wrong based upon how it will affect one’s character
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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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Reflection #4 Utilitarianism Applied to a Concrete Ethical Issue; Abortion Utilitarianism is a frequently argued theory within philosophy. Like most theories there are many groups of people across the country who are for the use of this philosophical theory‚ as well as numerous people who do not agree with it. Theories such as Utilitarianism can be applied to many ethical issues and concepts that are discussed every single day within the United States. One of the most well-known and important ethical issues
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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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Utilitarianism‚ yet another ethical theory between right or wrong. If everyone acted in an effort to promote the greatest good for the greater number of people our universe would exist with a utilitarian state of mind. Although‚ when one looks at this statement on the surface without further analyzing it‚ most would assume that existing in a universe where everyone seeks the happiness for the greatest amount of people that it would be greater one to live in. Although‚ surface wise we can make
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Hobbes believes that the overall satisfaction of life will increase‚ supporting the idea of ethical egoism‚ which is the idea that every individual should always do what will make his or her life better over time. The idea of ethical egoism leads to the same idea of the “golden rule” in Hobbes’ theory. The golden rule states that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you‚ while ethical egoism is used to maximize your satisfaction. Hobbes’ theory states that if you do to others as
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Egoism Plato’s Ring of Gyges 3 Parts of the Soul Appetitive Part—Appetites (Food‚ Drink‚ Sleep‚ Sex) Spirited Part—Emotional/volitional (will) Part (carries out dictates of rational) Rational Part—Reason (to rule) When each part performs its proper “functions properly___”‚ harmony is exhibited. According to Socrates: Human beings should seek inner harmony When one is immoral___‚ s/he destroys his/her inner harmony___; (i.e.‚ s/he is damaged/diseased) Disease always
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Mill’s‚ introduced the ethical views of Utilitarianism‚ stating that whatever maximizes happiness for the greatest number of people is consider to be the greatest good. According to Utilitarianism‚ an action is morally right if it promotes happiness and morally wrong if it promotes pain. Utilitarianism is an attempt to answer the question “What should we do?” and its answer is that we ought to act in a way that the consequence produce happiness. What I think Utilitarianism has that exceed Deontology
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Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is a moral theory generally considered to have been founded by Jeremy Bentham‚ a 19th century English philosopher and social reformer. It is centered on the concept of happiness‚ and those who seek it. The idea is that all people seek happiness‚ and that it is the ultimate goal of all human beings to be happy. Therefore‚ according to classical utilitarianism‚ when a person wishes to act in an ethically sound manner he or she should strive to bring about the greatest
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Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is a philosophical theory that believes that right thing to do comes from a measurement of the amount of pleasure over the amount of pain‚ and decides that the right thing to do results in what will be the greatest pleasure for the majority of the group. In other words by calculating happiness you will be able to decide what the right thing to do is as long as it is right for the majority of the people. This seems as if it will only help the people that agree on the
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