Utilitarianism theory is the most widely used ethical theory today‚ and also the most powerful and persuasive approaches to normative ethics in the history of philosophy. It is the rightness or wrongness of an action‚ which determined by its usefulness. It is based on the principle of Utility which John Stuard Mill stated that “Actions are right to the degree that they tend to promote the greatest good for the greatest number.” This means that in any situation‚ where there is a moral choice‚ one
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RS353 Religion & Psychology Reading Questions- Fuller text Chapter 1 – William James 1. Describe James’ “Criterion for Judging Religion‚” including the results the criterion are based upon‚ and the three standards for judging religious viewpoints. James’ Criterion for judging religion is summarized as “by their fruits ye shall know them‚ not by their roots.” James specifically focuses not on the origins or early stages of religion‚ but exclusively on its results. His study
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The Three Philosophies The three philosophies were ruled during the time of the Shang dynasty. They are Legalism‚ Confucianism‚ and Daoism. Legalism was a philosophy of punishment. Confucianism was a philosophy of peace ( but did have some rules). Daoism was a philosophy of peace‚ being laid-back‚ and kindness. Legalism was a philosophy of punishment. Legalism was based on the teachings of Hanfezi. Hanfezi lived from 280-233 b.c.e. He was also a royal prince from the state of Han. Legalism
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Epicurus and his focus on the pursuit of one’s happiness is how he talks about how that pleasure is the most great and legitimate pursuit of a person’s life. That is what he spent his life studying and speaking to others about. Epicurus invasion of pleasure is where we stay clear of unnecessary desires and try to achieve some kind of inner peace and be content with simple things. Unnecessary things would be like food‚ drinking‚ sex etc. Basically anything that you would say I want or desire. Now
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appiness Rests on Luckiness Moral philosophers‚ beginning with Bernard Williams and Thomas Nagel‚ have recently broached the topic of moral luck in the philosophical literature. They limit their discussion however to considerations of how luck affects our ability to carry out actions or how it affects the consequences of our actions. I wish to suggest that luck is also an important factor in determining our actions as ends in themselves. What actions we may choose to perform for their own sake
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Epicurus Epicurus (342.-270 B.C)‚ unlike Aristippus had a more intellectual view of pleasure‚ and he was mainly concerned with the pleasures of the mind. Epicurus felt that man’s insecurity could be partly traced to his false opinions regarding God: "First of all‚ believe that God is a being incorruptible and happy‚ as the common opinion of the world about God dictates; and attach to your idea of him nothing which is inconsistent with incorruptibility or with happiness; and think
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Introduction The epic poem‚ On the Order of Things‚ by philosopher Lucretius‚ is one of a few literary works that talking about Epicureanism‚ a school of philosophy that sprang up around the teachings of Epicurus‚ and how to live in accord with the nature in order to be happy. Lucretius’ argues that in order to live a happy life‚ humans act in one of two ways: to do whatever that pleases them and to and try to avoid pain. His argument does not say you should do whatever you want‚ whenever you want
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In our present society‚ we all are able to live and interact with each other in a community‚ that is‚ a group of people who live in close association with one another and share common attitudes‚ identity‚ or interests‚ under an established and enforced code of law. This system of justice primarily projects a standard of basic ethics which are generally agreed upon despite of different belief systems‚ cultural norms‚ and religion. For example‚ theft is clearly not tolerated by our justice system and
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and I will give my critique of this argument along the way. Before the main discussion of the Bentham’s utilitarianism gets underway‚ lets first establish what utilitarianism is. As stated in the introduction‚ utilitarianism is a teleological philosophy that is primarily concerned with the results of an action when determining the nature of that act. Utilitarianism operates primarily under the greater happiness principal‚ in other words‚ utilitarians believe that one should only act in such a way
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The largest issue in the case of the pacemaker is whether it is right or wrong to make‚ of course‚ but in order to find our moral correctness compass we must define what Utilitarianism is and from whose standpoint we are looking at this issue. John Stuart Mill‚ who studied under Jeremy Bentham (the father of Utilitarianism)‚ defined Utilitarianism as “actions are right to the degree that they tend to promote the greatest good for the greatest number (Kay 1997‚ p.7).” Racking and stacking the positives
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