ipl-logo

Act Utilitarianism, And Kant's Deontological Theory

747 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Kantian vs utilitarian ethics

When you apply ethical theories such as Ethical Egoism, Act Utilitarianism, Natural Law, and Kant’s Deontological theory to a specific subject, a person is able to determine what type of ethical principle they tend to favor. But by comparing each theory against one another towards a specific subject, we’re able to dive a little deeper by asking questions only we can answer, taking us on an internal journey of personal self-ethics. So we’ll apply these 4 theories to a subject. We’ll say I’m a doctor at a local hospital, and 5 prominent local citizens were in a major car accident leaving each person in need of an organ transplant. After the accident, Larry, a local homeless man, comes into the hospital with an infected toe, and I soon realize …show more content…

The decision doesn’t consider self-interests unless the self-interests align with the greatest outcome for the majority, which is determine through mathematical reasoning. If applying the Act Utilitarianism theory to a situation, first you must establish the ethical decision that needs to be made. Then, you’ll list all the possible actions that could be taken, as well as all the people who would be affected by those actions. You’ll use this information to create a chart that calculates the net ‘utility’ (good) for each option so you can see which option produces the best outcome for the most …show more content…

Using a scale, you’ll assign “happiness units” (Manias, et al, 2013) for each option based upon the affected people. After you’ve assigned happiness units to each option, you multiply that number by the determined amount of people the option affects coming up with a total number of happiness units for each option, which in turn is calculated into net utility to determine the highest amount of happiness units for each option. Using Act Utilitarianism towards ethical decisions allows a person to figure out the morally right decision based upon reason, logic, and common sense, where the deciding factor comes from the highest total of happiness units (Manias, et al,

Show More
Related

Kant's Deontological Moral Hypothesis

582 Words | 3 Pages

Utilitarian is a regularizing moral hypothesis that place the locus of good and bad exclusively on the result, the end legitimize the mean. Solving and taking care of the issue is most important. All matters is just the final products if the final products is great then what you did was ethically right. Considering things are at stake for both stakeholder involved. Utilitarian principles sates that proper course action maximize happiness and treat other how you would wanted to be treated.

Read More

Objection To Act Utilitarianism

1217 Words | 5 Pages

Utilitarianism is the moral theory that the action that people should take it the one that provides the greatest utility. In this paper I intend to argue that utilitarianism is generally untenable because act and rule utilitarianism both have objections that prove they cannot fully provide the sure answer on how to make moral decisions and what will be the ultimate outcome. I intend to do this by defining the argument for act and rule utilitarianism, giving an example, presenting the objections to act and rule utilitarianism and proving that utilitarianism is untenable. Both act and rule utilitarianism attempt to argue that what is right or wrong can be proven by what morally increases the well being of people. Act utilitarianism argues that

Read More

Ethical Issues In Utilitarianism

1010 Words | 5 Pages

A number of problems surround the second question; the most obvious of which are limited time, the limited capacity of human foresight to calculate the maximum number of happiness, and the inability of the theory to advise on the time frame utilitarianism is to be applied to; how do you know the maximum number of happiness for the next 10 years doesn’t mean greater overall unhappiness in the next 50 years, so what time period should one keep in mind when considering an issue from a utilitarian stand point, 1 year, 5 years, 10, 20? This lack of clarity further adds to the impractical nature of the ideology. There are a myriad number of situations which seem very difficult to resolve without employing utilitarian principles and a very good example is the widespread use of utilitarian principles in bioethics. The best example here would obviously be the famous case of the conjoined twins Mary and Jodie. The facts in front of the court indicated that Mary was the parasitic twin who shared a heart with Jodie.

Read More

Kant's Deontology: The Final Ethical Theory

154 Words | 1 Pages

The final ethical theory is Kant’s deontology. Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher who admire the stoics for their dedication to performing their duties and playing their part. He based his theory on duties, obligations, and rights. Its main focus is that everyone has an inherited right. It highlights the importance of respecting a person autonomy.

Read More

Ethical Theory Of Immanuel Kant's Categorical Imperative

890 Words | 4 Pages

The end does not justify the means. This was the principal ethical theory of Immanuel Kant and made up his ‘Categorical Imperative’, a deontological argument which showcased how certain actions are fundamentally wrong, such as murder, lying or torture and can therefore, never be justified. Contrastingly a utilitarian would claim that the ends do in fact justify the means and would enact a focus on outcomes in deciding whether or not an action is morally permissible. In 2002 Jakob Von Metzler, a boy of just twelve years, was kidnapped and a police officer threatened the kidnapper, Magnus Gafgen, with torture in an attempt to find and save the child. Gafgen told the officer that he had killed the boy and then disclosed the location of the body.

Read More

Essay On Divine Command Theory

1218 Words | 5 Pages

The main principle of utilitarianism is happiness. People who follow this theory strive to fulfill the “ultimate good”. The “ultimate good” is defined as ultimate pleasure with out any pain. It is said that the pleasure can be of any quantity and any quality, but pleasures that are weighted more important are put at a higher level than others that are below it. This ethical theory also states that if society would fully embrace utilitarianism then people would naturally realize their moral standing in the

Read More

Importance Of Utilitarianism In Marketing To Children

1312 Words | 6 Pages

It states that an action which is deemed right is one that has not merely some good consequences, but also the greatest amount of good consequences possible when the negative consequences are also given due considerations. According to the utilitarian principle, the righteousness of an action is solely judged on the basis of its consequences. Classical utilitarianism determines the balance of pleasure and pain for each individual affected by the action in question as well as the amount of utility for the whole

Read More

Preference Utilitarianism Theory Analysis

1225 Words | 5 Pages

To use preference utilitarianism to make ethical decisions, would require us to look at and weigh the preferences of all of these beings involved in the situation, not just our own personal interests. However,

Read More

Examples Of Utilitarianism In The Movie The Island

1524 Words | 7 Pages

In today’s world, many people tend to have a set of ethical principles which is one of the guidelines for them to follow on. The question is how he or she defines ethics? To answer, Ethics is best defined as knowing what is right or wrong in the action based on the moral principles. Moreover, it is also known as the branch of knowledge that deals with ethical issues. In relation, there are some ethical theories which deal with the ethical issues.

Read More

Utilitarianism And Ethics Essay

516 Words | 3 Pages

Moral decisions are concerned with the well-being of oneself, family, friends, acquaintances, enemies, and strangers. Many moral decisions can combine many different people in which may be affected by the decision. A difficult moral decision is choosing between benefitting oneself versus a stranger. For example, after walking to one’s car after buying groceries, one notices a shopping cart near his/her car with a bag left in it. Inside the bag is necessity items: toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, hand soap, and laundry detergent.

Read More

Strengths And Weaknesses Of Utilitarianism

1711 Words | 7 Pages

Commonly, ethical systems are categorized into two major systems. The deontological approaches or normative ethical position which judges an action based on the adherence of the action to certain rules and the teleological approaches which judges primarily based on the consequences of an action (Hare, 1964). The Utilitarianism is assigned to the teleological approaches, as it does not evaluate an action by itself but by it’s

Read More

A Critical Analysis Of Immanuel Kant's Deontology

1000 Words | 4 Pages

When France fell under the Nazi occupation, Andre and Magda Trocme did all in their power to save Jewish people from the vicious hands of the Nazis. As the Pastor of a town, Andre encouraged the people to give shelter for Jewish refugees. Even when the Vichy authorities order him to provide a list of the Jews in the town, he refused and said: "We do not know what a Jew is. We only know human beings" (Hallie, 1979, p.103). Was his lie just?

Read More

Are The Similarities Between Bentham And John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism

908 Words | 4 Pages

As per this theory the outcome of any action should minimize the pain and maximize the pleasure. The utilitarianism have two groups one is the Act utilitarian’s focun on the effects of individual actions (Such as Nathuram Godse’s assassination of Mahatma Gandhi) and another is rule utilitarian’s those focus on the effects of types of actions (such as killing or stealing) Utilitarians believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better by increasing the amount of good things (such as pleasure and happiness) in the world and decreasing the amount of bad things (such as pain and unhappiness). They reject moral codes or systems that consist of commands or taboos that are based on customs, traditions, or orders given by leaders

Read More

Utilitarianism In Business Ethics

1685 Words | 7 Pages

However, this is much more complex than the seemingly practical to use act utilitarianism. Assigning different ‘levels’ to different pleasures and pains can take up a considerable amount of time, when sometimes a quick decision is necessary. Furthermore, with both act and rule utilitarianism, the pleasure and pain of every potential situation must be calculated to decide the most moral course of action. However, it is impossible for one person, or even a group of people, to perfectly calculate every potential outcome – many situations will have extremely different consequences to what was originally predicted. Moreover, especially in larger companies, it is hard to measure far-reaching

Read More

The Difference Between Personal Ethics And Social Ethics

1201 Words | 5 Pages

Information is first received to identify all possible response to a dilemma. An individual recognizes and examines whether the choices are unethical or not and then evaluate the possible benefits to be gained and the possible costs to be paid. Ethical dilemma arises when there is conflict between personal ethics and social ethics. For instance, ethical dilemma exists in situations that a wrong decision is likely to produce a positive outcome or that a right decision is likely to produce a negative outcome (Fletcher, n.d.). Ethical decision-making can only be justified in the notion that the individual is ethically sensitive and rational because a person is unable to acknowledge the responsibility of certain behaviors without awareness of morality and

Read More

More about Act Utilitarianism, And Kant's Deontological Theory

Related Topics

Open Document