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Example Of Utilitarianism

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Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that places the rightness and wrongness of a decisions is solely based on the consequences. Applying this theory moves the person beyond their own interests and takes into account the interests of others. Utilitarianism refers to the “Greatest Happiness Principle”: to promote the capability of achieving happiness for the most amount of people. The quality of happiness is central to utilitarianism. At its core utilitarianism is a moral principle that holds that the right course of action in any situation is the one that produces the greatest balance of benefits over harms for everyone affected. So long as a course of action produces maximum benefits for everyone, utilitarianism does not care whether the benefits are produced by lies, manipulation, or coercion. Which is difficult for people to grasp fully because emotions are applied so heavily in moral crisis. …show more content…

Have them imagine that the C.I.A. gets wind of a plot to set off a bomb in a major city: Columbus, New York, Washington, D.C. let them take their pick. C.I.A. agents capture a suspect who, they believe, has information about where the bomb is planted. Is it acceptable for them to torture the suspect into revealing the bomb's location? Is it really acceptable to compromise the dignity of a single individual in order to save many others? If one answers yes, they are using utilitarian moral reasoning. Utilitarianism is often used and if one were to ask another why they made the decision to torture the suspect they will likely point out the good or the harm it will

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1673 Words | 7 Pages

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong when looking at the outcomes. It believes that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number. Consequentialism is found in utilitarianism; consequentialism is largely thought about during war. When you fight for your life in war, you end up taking another person's life. While this may be good for your country, it is hurting a different country.

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465 Words | 2 Pages

What is utilitarianism? Utilitarianism is the belief that the best moral action is one that focuses on overall happiness of the group rather than happiness of individuals. In the chapter “Where Have All the Criminals Gone?” in Levitt & Dubner’s book “Freakonomics”, adopts a utilitarian tone whilst taking at look the drastic drop in crime in the 1990’s. This tone is reflected most heavily while topics of an increased police force, gun regulations, and abortion are discussed.

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2016). Using this ethical framework to argue against torture, one needs to consider the violation of the terrorist’s rights. Utilitarians argue that under a scenario where thousands of people are in danger, the well-being of the larger community is more important than neglecting the rights of a single individual (Krauthammer 2005). The simple idea of taking away a person’s autonomy for the sake of others violates rights ethics. To comprehend the violation upon the victim’s rights, it is important to understand how torture feels, “Brian describes his body as having become an object… pain is the central reality; it dominates experience and expression (Wisnewski 2010, 81).”

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1533 Words | 7 Pages

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that focuses on outcomes and consequences. When one considers the theory of utilitarianism, it must be understood that the pleasure is a fundamental moral good and the aim is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. So, when a human is going through the decision making process it is of the utmost importance to look forward at the consequences of the decision and determine if the decision will maximize pleasure and minimize pain. John Stuart Mill, a nineteenth century philosopher focused on the theory of utilitarianism or the Greatest Happiness Principle and claimed that the maximization of happiness for the greatest quantity of people is the ultimate goal. One issue that we face in modern day America that

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Aside from being an information retriever, some people believe that torture can be used as an extra form of punishment for those that they believe death would be too swift and easy. In the eyes of many, torture is still seen as an important tool. Sometimes, interrogators do not ask all the right questions to get the entire truth out of an individual. With torture, the person being tortured tends to give up more information that was currently inquired by the interrogator. This often leads to more information that to locations of items and

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611 Words | 3 Pages

Utilitarianism is one of the best-known theory under the consequentialism, and its idea is the Greatest Happiness Principle(GHP). According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Utilitarian believe that the purpose of morality is to

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403 Words | 2 Pages

Utilitarian is an influential concept which believes that the purpose of morality is to make life higher via growing the amount of fine things (equivalent to pleasure and happiness) on this planet and reducing the quantity of unhealthy matters (comparable to suffering and unhappiness).Rule utilitarian’s suppose that motion is right as it conforms to a rule that leads to the finest just right, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a certain action is a perform of the correctness of the rule of which it is an instance. Act utilitarian supposes that man or woman's act is morally right if and provided that it produces at the least as so much happiness as some other act that the man or woman could participate in at that time. Each act utilitarian’s

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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

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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

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494 Words | 2 Pages

Utilitarianism is a moral philosophy that is credited to being created by Jeremey Bentham. Bentham believed that all humans make choices based on two feelings, pain and pleasure. Because of this, Bentham believed that motives are not good or bad in nature but instead on what feeling a human might feel more.

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The morality of an action is determined by the outcome of that action. At an initial glance, Utilitarianism seems as if it would be a superior way to live a life full of good will, as it is focused on doing the most

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The utilitarianism is common approach to make ethical decisions. The main point of this approach is that you have to make that decision which comes with the most utility. The utility in this approach can be described as „The good”, and the opposite of this is „the bad”. This means that in Computer Science you have to produce a computer programme or a hardware, which produces the largest amount of good , and during the producing phase, it makes the least amount of bad, for all who are affected: customers, employees, and even the enviroment. With the utilitarian viewpoint people can make right, and ethical decisions, for instance if you produce a programme which can make life easier for millions of people, you should not sell it for extremly

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Utilitarianism is a morally demanding position for two reasons, First reason is it theory asks us to do the most to maximize utility not to do the minimum and second reason is to set aside

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Utilitarianism is a teleological ethical theory based on the idea that an action is moral if it causes the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. The theory is concerned with predicted consequences or outcomes of a situation rather than focusing on what is done to get to the outcome. There are many forms of utilitarianism, having been introduced by Jeremy Bentham (act utilitarianism), and later being updated by scholars such as J.S. Mill (rule utilitarianism) and Peter Singer (preference utilitarianism). When referring to issues of business ethics, utilitarianism can allow companies to decide what to do in a given situation based on a simple calculation. Many people would agree that this idea of promoting goodness

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Approximately 250 million years ago, almost all life was eradicated from the surface of the Earth In a short moment of geological time, when our planet experienced what is now known as the Permian-Triassic Extinction, or The Great Dying. Scientists have deduced that this was a result of of a sudden spike in global average temperature, which led to various natural calamities across the globe. Based on past and current research being conducted on the subject, climate change is more of a threat to life on this planet than it ever has been before. Recent meteorological data collected suggests that temperatures around the world are rising at an increasing rate – considering how devastating the effects of the last mass extinction as a result of climate

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