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 agree that giving a homeless person money is the morally right thing to do. While you intended for them to use that money for food or other basic necessities‚ you have no control over what they will actually purchase. If the homeless person used
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Helping the poor‚ keeping promises‚ and telling the truth is morally good. The act of rape‚ and killing or harming innocent victims is immoral. These actions are considered in the rules of thumb. Utilitarianism is a species of consequentialism‚ which focuses on the greater good. Utilitarianism states that an act is right if and only if it produces more happiness and pleasure than unhappiness and pain. When we do utilitarianism‚ we aim to maximize overall happiness and minimize pain. In this essay
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I will then explore a potential objection to Mill’s argumentative strategy regarding Mill’s definition of “happiness” and its components‚ as well as potential responses from Mill or his supporters. Subsequently‚ I will examine what effect‚ if any‚ this contention has on Mill’s argument as
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In the field of normative ethics‚ utilitarianism is a perennial philosophical view. Utilitarianism holds that a “morally right action is that which produces the most good” and promotes the maximum utility of happiness; for humanity (the aggregate). John Stuart Mill‚ a contributor to the field of utilitarianism‚ embraced Jeremy Bentham’s ‘greatest-happiness principle’ that states “the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong” . Mill offered an alternative to
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Ethical Theory Summary This is an outline and summary of three of the most prominent ethical theories in the history of philosophy. (Note that all three of these represent different ethical absolutist/universalist theories. A view known as ethical relativism follows these.) Please take this as a sketch that invites you to investigate these ethical theories further. After each brief sketch‚ I will provide some web links that will be helpful to read. Virtue Ethics (especially Aristotle)
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Civil disobedience is a form of protest in which protestors deliberately violate a law. Classically‚ they violate the law they are protesting‚ such as segregation or draft laws‚ but sometimes they violate other laws which they find unobjectionable‚ such as trespass or traffic laws. Most activists who perform civil disobedience are scrupulously non-violent‚ and willingly accept legal penalties. The purpose of civil disobedience can be to publicize an unjust law or a just cause; to appeal to the conscience
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The issue of censorship of unpopular opinions is a sensitive one that stirs significant debate. In a general sense‚ utilitarians are interested in analyzing the balance between happiness and unhappiness – in this case‚ the balance between the conflicting feelings of those who would prefer censorship and those who would be censored. In his essay On Liberty‚ utilitarian philosopher John Stuart Mill settles this balance with the assertion that‚ no matter how unpopular a certain opinion is‚ censorship
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Speciesism In this essay I will try to clarify Singers essential argument and defend it against some common objections. According to Singer‚ Speciesism is a position similar to racism and sexism. Just as race discriminates against other race‚ and sexism against the opposite sex‚ speciesism discriminates against non-human species. Specisists hold that only humans have intrinsic moral worth‚ and anything that is non-human has no rights and so for Singer‚ speciesism is not an acceptable position
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In the argument regarding absolute moral prohibition‚ the third premise is the one that is most open to objection. It goes as follows‚ “If it is wrong to murder an innocent person even when doing so would save more than one innocent person then it is our duty to murder more than one innocent person in order not to murder a single innocent person.” In order to understand the argument‚ one must have a clear definition of murder. Murder is the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought
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While searching for the answer to whether or not I did the right thing by lying about my father‚ I traced my thought process during that time. Although justice for my brother was at the hindsight of my mind‚ consequences for me‚ my brother‚ and extended and nuclear family were an even more important consideration for me. Act-utilitarianism justifies what is right or wrong by the consequences of a situation; this explains why it is the main principle to use for my scenario. This traditional form of
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