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Short note of utilitarianism
Short note of utilitarianism
Short note of utilitarianism
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Francis Drake was sometime around 1540-1544. He had to start working on a ship at a young age. Started as an apprentice on a ship then a navigator. Entered into the slave trade with John Hawkins until his ship was attacked by the Spanish. Francis Drake was a hero to the British and a pirate to the Spanish.
Mills explains Utilitarianism as achieving life’s goals, it is what everyone wants or seek for. He further explains that utilitarianism promotes the quality of life. Furthermore, utilitarianism is connected to happiness, because we all seek to achieve different goals in life, and those goals are what makes up happy. We all want certain things in life, or want to achieve certain things. Utilitarianism promotes happiness, happiness exclude pain, suffering, struggles, stress, and anything that makes one ‘unhappy’ or ‘sad’.
Utilitarianism or the Greatest Happiness Principle, accounts actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness (The Norton Introduction to Philosophy, Page 752). The morality of an action depends solely on the consequences of the action. According to Mill no amount of physical pleasure can replace mental pleasure. Every act is permissible once it serves as a means for pleasure and denounces pain. An Action’s consequences are measured and valued according to the number of individual’s happiness.
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
For utilitarians, happiness of many is more important than happiness of an individual. Such as, laws should benefit as many people as possible, even if some individuals rights and happiness is
Utilitarianism is the belief that the best action is the one that brings the most happiness to the most people. In Omelas,
A Utilitarian will base his actions on the best end result or that which benefits the greatest number of people. The Utilitarian is primarily focused with the end result of an act. This view is a version of Consequentialism. For a Utilitarian believes that the morally right act is the one which tries to bring about the best possible consequence (i.e as much happiness as possible for the people concerned). Happiness for a utilitarian refers to a state of mind that is perceived desirable and in which a person feels pleasure and
The ethical theory of utilitarianism judges an action to maximize happiness and diminish pain for those who are affected or involved. Everything that we do, or cause, will affect the outcome and we should think of how our actions and judgments can be carried out to promote happiness for us and those around us. One of the main ideas of utilitarianism is consequentialism, meaning to maximize pleasure through the consequences of our actions. Another important concept of utilitarianism is impartiality, that everyone’s happiness is equally the same. This accounts for everyone’s happiness that is involved in the situation, but it must maximize the most pleasure overall.
Utilitarianism is a theory based on the principle that "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (118). Mill describes happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain. Mill claims the best action is the one that maximizes utility. Which he defines "utility or the greatest happiness principle” (118) as both the basis of everything that people desire and as the foundation of morality. Aristotle’s moral approach focuses on the development of a person’s character and distinguishes between intellectual virtues, which we learn through instruction, and moral virtues,
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
M. Hare’s argument, it can be seen that there exists some issues with utilitarianism. Or, simply apply utilitarianism to this world, and use utilitarianism code to make every decision is wrong since the code of utilitarianism loss consistency in real world. According to utilitarianism, the best moral action is the one that maximizes utility, or happiness. However, happiness is complex. It is generally acknowledged that people who have their physical and emotional needs satisfied and their human rights guaranteed are happy.
Utilitarianism is the theory that we should always try to bring about as much happiness as possible. It is hard to argue against the value of being happy, but critics are quick to point out that we value many other things as well. (Sir Bernard Williams, Rachels, 2010, p. 40) For me, this subject can be quite a tough one, and I will be honest, it is seriously causing me to think. The best way I can think of is this.
There are a few significant aspects of this definition. First, it shows utility, or the presence of pleasure and the absence of pain, as both the basis of everything that people desire, and as the foundation of morality. However, utilitarianism does not say that it is right for individuals to simply pursue what makes them personally happy. Rather, morality is dictated by the greatest happiness principle, that is, moral action is that which increases the total amount of utility in the world.
Utilitarians, however, provide an alternative ethical principle. The essential debate between the utilitarianism and deontology is about whether human beings should “define the right as maximizing the good” (Rawls 1988, 15). Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, the classical utilitarians, “identified the good with pleasure”, ergo “the hedonism is the highest value” (Driver, 2014). According to this believe, utilitarians thought that maximizing happiness is the judgmental principle of morality. In this content, Bentham developed the basic principle of utilitarianism, which he described as “the greatest good for the greatest number is the measure of right and wrong” (Anderson, 2004; Burns 2005, 46).
Utilitarianism justifies the choice of maximising lives over profits; the morality of an action is solely dependent upon the consequences of the action. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory: what makes something good are the consequences it has on someone’s life, the externalities to society with equal consideration of interests. No one person’s preferences or wellbeing is greater than another’s. For example, a rich boy and a poor boy are both offered a cookie, however there is only one. Although society might view the rich boy’s happiness as preferential because of his socioeconomic status, their utility will have an equal contribution to aggregate utility.