Thesis: To begin‚ I believe that it would be permissible to shove the fat man off the railing to save the lives of five individuals that would have otherwise been struck by the trolley. I will use John Stuart Mill’s teleological theory of Act Utilitarianism to prove my case. I will also explain why I disagree with Kant’s Formula of Humanity. Background: The theory that we are focusing on for this particular case is called the normative theory of ethics. This theory asks what we should or ought to
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Intro to Ethics Outline over “Utilitarianism and Vegetarianism” I. Tom Regan argues Peter Singer’s utilitarianism obligation to be vegetarian. A. Singer touches on methodology in ethics first to help explain point of view to Regan’s argument. B. Singer then turns to the substantive issue of “what are the implications of utilitarianism for our treatment of animals?” II. In regards to methodology‚ Singer claims Regan recommends abandoning utilitarianism in favor of a rights-based theory
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that if given a choice between two acts the act that benefits the majority should be chosen. Philosophers use the term “utility” to express this idea‚ and “utility” is defined as the “satisfaction one gets from something” (Bowles‚ 2010‚ Section ‘Utilitarianism‚’ Para. 2). When considering whether an act is good or bad using the utilitarian approach one would consider whether the consequence of the act has a positive or negative impact on the majority of those affected. There are pros and cons to using
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Throughout life our morals are questioned numerous times and it is completely up to decide what is morally correct and what is logically correct. From that step it is then up to us to decide which one matters most to us. Merriam-Webster defines utilitarianism as “a doctrine that the useful is the good and that the determining consideration of right conduct should be the usefulness of its consequences; specifically: a theory that the aim of action should be the largest possible balance of pleasure over
Free Utilitarianism Ethics John Stuart Mill
things.” Mill ’s view of happiness is hedonistic‚ which suggests that the only good thing in a person is pleasure and the absence of pain and the only bad thing in a person‚ is pain and the absence of pleasure. Mills happiness ethical theory‚ utilitarianism‚ gives us confidence to do what will bring more pleasure and less/no pain to ourselves or to others (Collins 1991). According to mill‚ happiness is the existence of pleasure and the absence of pain. This means that in all pleasurable actions/duties
Free Utilitarianism Ethics Jeremy Bentham
UTILITARIANISM Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that holds that an action is right if it produces‚ or if it tends to produce‚ the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people affected by the action. Otherwise the action is wrong. This cost-benefit analysis is a form of utility calculation. People in business theory use utility curves to plot the results of various actions‚ choosing those that maximize whatever it is that they wish to achieve. This utility approach is not foreign
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PLEASURE IS ALL THAT MATTERS Roger Crisp Roger Crisp asks whether hedonism is quite as bad as is often supposed. Hedonism’s decline Since the beginning of philosophy‚ many people have thought that the only thing really worth seeking in life is pleasure‚ and that the only thing really worth avoiding is pain. This is the view called ’hedonism’ (from the Greek hedone‚ meaning ’pleasure’). The ancients were fascinated by the view. Plato‚ Aristotle and the Stoics spent a lot of time coming
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The objection raised against consequentialism highlights a fundamental issue with the theory. It argues that consequentialism faces challenges in predicting the outcomes of actions due to the unpredictability of life. The objection is that consequentialism doesn’t give clear rules for deciding if actions are right or wrong because it depends on guessing what might happen in the future‚ and that’s often uncertain and can change. This is illustrated by the student’s example‚ which depicts a situation
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Immanuel Kant has presented one viewpoint in The Grounding For The Metaphysics of Morals that is founded on his belief that the worth of man is inherent in his ability to reason. John Stuart Mill holds another opinion as presented in the book‚ Utilitarianism that is seemingly in contention with the thoughts of Kant. What is most distinctive about the ethics of morality is the idea of responsibilities to particular individuals. According to Kant and Mill‚ moral obligations are not fundamentally particularistic
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most basic moral judgments: the theory should agree with our most basic set of morals and from this we can pass “judgement” based on those morals. 4. Ethical Egoism: an act is right only if it is in the actors best interests. Objections to Ethical Egoism: 1. Egoism fails the publicity requirements: you won’t want to teach egoism to others because then they will compete with you.
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