Utilitarian’s believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better by increasing the amount of good things in the world and decreasing the amount of bad things. Suppose the class has a test due and some of the students are debating whether or not they should cheat. The utilitarian would need to know many specifics about the test whether or not what the chances are of getting caught cheating‚ what grade they probably would get if you didn’t cheat‚ and what grade you’d probably get if you did
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doesn’t mean that person is automatically happy. Even though someone may have wealth‚ the American Dream lacks the proper structure for anyone to attain it because hard work does not always pay off‚ true love proves a challenge‚ and the dream invokes a paradox. Working hard does not mean one will achieve happiness. A person could work
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Similarly to the Paradox of Horror‚ we also seem to be in a sort of paradoxical state when we experience pleasure from watching films of a melancholic nature. We in engage with these fictions and we experience aesthetic pleasure from these feelings of sadness that they stir up. This stands in conflict with everyday life‚ where most people seek to avoid sadness in order to avoid experiencing the negative feelings that are associated with real sadness. Some attempts to resolve this paradox amounts to discrediting
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Rachel-Ellen Combs Mrs. Julie Pasterchick English Language AP-Gifted 23 January 2013 Paradoxes in Social Media One generality about users of social networking sites is that we are an outgoing‚ social people hiding behind our computer screens rather than enjoying the company of others. We love to be in touch with the world and catch up on what everyone else is up to‚ yet we choose to stay locked in our rooms doing so. We have thousands of Facebook friends‚ but have never met most of them
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What makes something right? In the study of philosophy‚ there are many views of what is right and what is wrong. Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill have differing viewpoints of this topic. John Stuart Mill has a philosophy known as Utilitarianism. In this way of thinking‚ ethics are based on the maximization of pleasure. In other words‚ it’s based on the consequences of a given action. The basic principle of Utilitarianism is that "actions are right in so far as they tend to promote happiness
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John Stuart Mill begins his argument for utilitarianism by convincing us that‚ without a measure for determining moral value‚ we cannot accurately hold ourselves responsible as our own moral agents. In response to this concern‚ he outlines a moral code based on the principle of utility. As a promoter of the highest presence of pleasure and lowest presence of pain‚ Mill continues on to argue that the ultimate end is happiness‚ with all other actions and intentions having value only so far as being
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The golden rule poses a simple moral guideline that seems almost intuitive to many people: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In his attempt to determine a code for what is right and what is wrong‚ John Stuart Mill argues for the “greatest happiness principle.” In his book Utilitarianism‚ he writes‚ “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (7). In other words‚ the only metric of whether an action
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‘Increasing pleasure is more important than ending pain and suffering.’ How far would utilitarian’s agree with this statement? A utilitarian’s opinion on increasing pleasure rather than ending pain would depend upon the severity of the case being assessed. Although utilitarianism is used to decide whether or not in theory carrying out an act will bring about more pleasure‚ some utilitarian’s may argue that there are cases of suffering which require more serious attention‚ to put an end to that
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Calculating Consequences: A Student Refutation of Utilitarianism Erik Z. Hallworth San Francisco State University Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory holding that moral actions are based on the maximization of overall happiness‚ defined as the Utility Principle. Mill and Bentham ’s utilitarianism makes a plausible and convincing argument‚ though not everyone agrees with it. Bernard Williams writes Utilitarianism: For and Against the theory
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The primary objective of utilitarianism is to provide the greatest amount of happiness‚ or utility‚ for the most sentient beings possible (Boss 234). Additionally in utilitarianism‚ the morality of an action is determined only by its consequences. In other words‚ intentions are meaningless (Boss 234). Personally‚ I do not agree with the utilitarian notion that intentions don’t matter because no one can predict the consequences of their actions 100 percent of the time. For instance‚ most people would
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