‘Happiness is the only worthwhile goal in life’ [15] There are many other goals apart from happiness in life that are worth pursuing. Although Jeremy Bentham (inventor of first type of utilitarianism‚ act utilitarianism) famously said “nature has placed humanity under the rule of two sovereign masters‚ pleasure and pain”‚ it seems pleasure is not the only goal people strive for. For example people may pursue a spiritual goal in life. Many people live under religious guide lines such as the Bible
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or pleasure for the greatest number of people (MacKinnon‚ 32).” To examine utilitarianism we first need to look at the word‚ this is where we find the word “utility” imbedded into it. Utility‚ by mathematical definition‚ is “a measure of the total benefit or disadvantage attaching to each of a set of alternative courses of action.”1 Attaching this definition to the term utilitarianism we can conclude that utilitarianism pertains to measuring something that has more than one possible outcome. The
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Committing adultery is not a morally good act and Kant would agree with me. Utilitarianism is an action that is right if it maximizes the overall happiness of all people. In other words‚ an action is morally right if the consequences of that action are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone. This is consequentialism. Utilitarianism has rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism. In rule utilitarianism‚ a behavioral code or rule is morally right if the consequences of the rule are more
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a) Compare the ways in which Natural law and Utilitarianism might be applied to abortion. (25 marks) b) “A religious believer should never have an abortion.” Discuss (10 marks) a) Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy and in today’s society is viewed as a very controversial ethical issue due to the conflicting moral standpoints. Natural Law was first proposed by Aristotle but championed by Aquinas (1225 – 74) and Utilitarianism by Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century. Abortion
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Ethical Decisions and Responsibility Richard DeSordi Law‚ Ethics And Corporate Governance Professor Everett L. Bensten‚ Esq. February 13‚ 2013 Ethical Decisions and Responsibility Running a large corporation or organization will always be challenging. Making sure it is being run ethically with profitability only enhances the challenge. To be effective‚ ethical and profitable Dr. DoRight will need to be able to uphold the “Hippocratic Oath” (Hippocratic Oath‚ 2013) and identify who he and
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always try to promote the best consequences. There are numerous types of consequentialism‚ however‚ we will focus mainly on egoistic consequentialism and utilitarianism. Egoistic consequentialism is where one only takes into consideration how the consequence of an act will affect oneself or a given group. On the other hand‚ utilitarianism only concerns itself with the state of affairs. For the utilitarian‚ if an act has value as right or wrong‚ then it can only be derivatively‚ because of the
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was based upon it. Utilitarianism is built on hedonism‚ which is the claim that pleasure is the supreme good for man. The main idea of utilitarianism is that man is naturally inclined to seek pleasure and avoid pain and this natural inclination is to be embraced as it will lead man to the supreme end‚ which is happiness. Utilitarian ethics says that moral acts are those that promote pleasure and avoid pain while immoral acts do the opposite. In is definition of utilitarianism‚ John Mills says that
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really so? Regarding this concept of Consequentialism in the brief sketch I have drawn‚ it could be considered such that well presented‚ consideration is being given to it rather than merely an abstraction or reduction of Consequentialism which is utilitarianism. As many authors have already presented‚ and what in my opinion Shaw (1998) has done in a very proper discussion of ethics‚ Consequentialism‚ is the general idea that according to states‚ the right action is the action that brings good consequences
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hedonistic and that life should encompass many other important goals‚ thus making it unworthy and is seen as a futile goal. Bentham‚ founder of ‘utilitarianism’‚ would certainly agree with this statement as according to him‚ every moral decision should be based on the “greatest good for the greatest number.” Also Bentham’s act of utilitarianism emphasises ‘ends over means’ this is where the result or the consequence of an act is the real measure whether if it’s good or bad. Therefore‚ in this
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would find his favoured principles of justice to be especially attractive‚ winning out over varied alternatives‚ including utilitarian and right-libertarian accounts Three Theories of Justice: Utilitarianism‚ Justice as Fairness‚ and Libertarianism (1) Utilitarianism A society‚ according to Utilitarianism‚ is just to the extent that its laws and institutions are such as to promote the greatest overall or average happiness of its members. How do we determine the aggregate‚ or overall‚ happiness
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