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Compare And Contrast Deontology Vs Utilitarianism

794 Words4 Pages

What is intrinsically valuable to you? The situation covered in the short excerpt describes a story about a man who has placed several bombs and won't disclose the location of the bombs to anyone. The question is to torture him or not too? According to the situation at hand, you can either make a conclusion based upon Deontology or Utilitarianism, so which will it be? Deontology is the belief that "the moral worth of an action does NOT lie in the consequences of an action," while Utilitarianism is the belief that "moral worth of an action lies in the consequences of that action" (Garcia, Kant Slide 37). Deontology also believes that good will is the only intrinsic good, in contrast Utilitarianism believes happiness and well-being are the only intrinsic good. Both systems have completely different beliefs, which will be exposed in the following comparisons of the situation. First, I will explain the Deontology view point of the scenario. In accordance with Kant's method of thinking you have to start by creating a maxim. The maxim in the situation would be, I will break the law when doing so it will allow me to do much more good for humanity, in order to promote the goal of maximizing public safety. To check the maxim, we have to follow the two principles that fall under the categorical …show more content…

Furthermore, Jeremy Bentham, a believer of Utilitarianism, emphasized the idea of quantity over quality. In conclusion, I believe torturing the man who placed the bombs reveals the possibility of learning where the bombs are placed, therefore through Utilitarian influenced beliefs, I would judge it morally right if it maximizes the majority of people's

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In the Ethical Life, by Russ Shafer-Landau, chapters written by Michael Walzer and Alan Dershowitz express their knowledge and opinions on the topics of terrorism and torture. Is it possible to justify and defend such acts? In the chapter “Terrorism: A Critique of Excuses”, author Michael Walzer shuts down four excuses that attempt to justify terrorism. In the chapter, “Should the Ticking Bomb Terrorist Be Tortured?”, Alan Dershowitz defends his theory that it is necessary to torture a terrorist if that means saving the lives of innocent people while protecting their civil liberties and human rights at the same time. Terrorism can never be moral because it violates all “excuses” and torture is an acceptable tactic to save lives.

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Just the word alone is a great summary of what this philosophy deals with. Kant, the German philosopher who developed deontology, taught that the highest good one could achieve is that of good will. However to achieve this highest good one must be motivated only by a duty or

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Utilitarianism is different from Kantianism because it says that you can perform any action even if it provides some harm to others, but at the end it should provide maximum utility. But on the other end, Kantianism says that you need to treat everyone equal, no one less than the other. They both hold different views but they both are right in certain situations. Utilitarianism and Kantianism conflict in many situations. For example, you have a friend who’s pregnant, but she’s scared to tell her parents.

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Deontology and Utilitarianism are similar in that the tenets of each aims at promoting the well-being of others by doing good. However, there are several differences between Deontology and Utilitarianism. Deontology focuses on the moral intention of an act.

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1023 Words | 5 Pages

While utilitarian ethics focuses on producing the greatest happiness for the greatest number, deontological ethics focuses on what makes us worthy of happiness. For Kant, as for the Stocis and other who emphasize duty, we are worthy of happiness only when we do our duty. As Kant explained, morality “is not properly the doctrine of how we are to make ourselves happy but of how we are to become worthy of happiness.” For Kant, morality is not a “doctrine of happiness” or set of instructions on how to become happy. Rather, morality is the “rational condition of happiness”

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Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill are two of the most notable philosophers in normative ethics. This branch of ethics is based on moral standards that determine what is considered morally right and wrong. This paper will focus on Immanuel Kant’s theory of deontology and J.S. Mill’s theory of utilitarianism. While Mill takes a consequentialist approach, focused on the belief that actions are right if they are for the benefit of a majority, Kant is solely concerned with the nature of duty and obligation, regardless of the outcome. This paper will also reveal that Kantian ethics, in my opinion, is a better moral law to follow compared to the utilitarian position.

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