Arguments on Utilitarianism Which is more valuable: a game of push-pin or the study of Latin? Which has greater worth: the life of a single young girl or the lives of an entire community? These are the sorts of questions raised when dealing with the matter of utilitarianism. According to Jeremy Bentham‚ the father of the theory‚ the ultimate moral goal of human beings should be to increase pleasure and to decrease pain. To maximize the amount of time spent in content‚ and minimize the times of
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The Utilitarianism approach is that of a moral one. It is defined by the right action that maximizes the greatest amount of happiness or well-being and is the wrong action when it promotes the reverse of happiness. Not just the happiness of the person performing an action‚ but for everyone who will inevitably be affected by that action while it is taking place as well as afterwards in the future. Again‚ what matters most is the elevation of happiness and well-being. Utilitarianism relies on intrinsic
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“What is Utilitarianism?” Ask a passerby to describe his personal morality‚ and you’ll likely get a complicated explanation filled with ifs‚ ands‚ and buts. Ask a utilitarian‚ and he can give a six-word response: greatest good for the greatest number. Of course‚ utilitarianism is not that simple. Like any philosophical system‚ it is the subject of endless debate. Still‚ for the average reader who is unfamiliar with the jargon that characterizes most philosophy‚ utilitarianism can be a useful tool
Free Utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham John Stuart Mill
came up with the most popular moral theory‚ called Utilitarianism. It states that something is right if it promotes happiness and wrong if it brings happiness to the performer only and does not affect everyone around you. This theory is in opposition to egoism‚ the view that a person should pursue his own self-interest‚ even at the expense of others‚ regardless of the consequences. Morals are separated into good and bad. But in utilitarianism‚ good is defined as the existence of pleasure and with
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The Bush Doctrine: an unethical agenda in theory and practice @minr_boy Dr. Jonathan Marks Francesco Poggiani Philosophy 119 December 18‚ 2012 @minr_boy Dr. Jonathan Marks Philosophy 119 December 18‚ 2012 Research Paper: The Bush Doctrine: an unethical agenda in theory and practice The “Bush Doctrine” represents the foreign policy principles of the United States federal government under the administration of President George W. Bush. Although the phrase was never explicitly
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philosophy and build a foundational knowledge and understanding of how such thinking has evolved and progressed in humans over time‚ one must look to possibly one of the most influential approaches to ethics in history: Utilitarianism (Driver). In order to understand what Utilitarianism is and how this system of thought developed and can be applied in society‚ one must look back to the writings of thinkers who began to discover a clearer definition of the concept in the early nineteenth century. Ideas
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The Philosophy of Utilitarianism may have a positive outcome‚ but it can be flawed at times as well. The Utilitarian theory states “ The greatest happiness for the greatest number of people”. Some say this approach is flawed due to it lacking reason and consequence‚ I believe this depends on specific circumstances. Abortion is a big issue now a days and I feel that the utilitarian theory would be a reasonable outlook on this particular situation. To apply the Utilitarian theory to abortion‚ first
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Utilitarianism derives itself from a combination of hedonism and consequentialism. Hedonism suggests that consequences are good as long as they lead to pleasure‚ which is the ultimate good in the case of utilitarianism. On the other hand‚ consequentialism argues that the right action is the one that produces the best consequences‚ and maximizes utility. Mill argues that the only factor relevant to actions is the amount of pleasure or pain produced‚ not the motives that propel action. Utilitarianism
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The philosophical theory that I choose to do is called “utilitarianism”. In a brief sentence‚ utilitarianism means the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Basically what this means is‚ doing the right thing is based on how many people your action benefits rather than how much it benefits you. According to the Oxford American Dictionary utility means “the state of being useful‚ profitable‚ or beneficial”(oxford dictionary‚2013). The whole theory is all about how much it benefits and
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The theory behind utilitarianism is that one’s actions are right if it promotes happiness or pleasure and wrong if it does not promote happiness or pleasure. The main point to this theory is the principle of utility that states “according to which actions should be chosen that bring about the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.” (Palmer) Jeremy Bentham gave essentially utilitarianism its name and brought more attention to it than those before him. Bentham came up with
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