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Consequentialism: John Stuart Mill And Jeremy Bentham

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Consequentialism is the ethical theory that states that an action is morally right if and only if it maximizes the good. In this sense, it is the consequences of an action that determine whether or not it is morally permissible, rather that the motives behind the action. Ethical egoism is the ethical theory that dictates that an action is morally right if and only if it maximizes one’s own self-interest. This seems to be in contrast to consequentialism to a certain degree, since the “good” in consequentialism often takes into account the collective good, and not simply one’s own good. Psychological egoism, on the other hand, states that each person has been one ultimate aim: his own welfare. This view of egoism appears to be fairly similar …show more content…

This theory takes consequentialism a step further in that it defines the good as pleasure (much like hedonism) and that it also incorporates the theory of impartialism and stresses that no one counts morally any more or any less than anyone else. Two different theories of utilitarianism stem from John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham. Mill identifies with qualitative utilitarianism, which stresses that certain kinds of pleasures are better than others, and that mental pleasures are superior pleasures to physical pleasures. He argues that anyone who is well-versed enough in a mental pleasure, such as classic literature, would choose the mental pleasure every time over a physical pleasure, such as eating a bar of chocolate. He goes on to say that anyone who would choose the bar of chocolate is simply not well-versed enough in classic literature to be qualified to make that choice, and as such his defense of this argument is a little spotty, as it rules out anyone who may just really like chocolate as …show more content…

In the case of qualitative versus quantitative utilitarianism, this essentially means that for physical and mental pleasures to be identical, as Bentham suggests, they must possess all of the same characteristics. Mill distinguishes one characteristic that he believes mental pleasures to have that physical pleasures do not, which is that mental pleasures require the development of certain mental faculties in order to be fully appreciated, while physical pleasures do

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As we know consequentialism is the focus of an action that does more intrinsically good than bad, one kind of consequentialist theory is utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is an action that produces consequences that are more good over bad for everyone involved. In order to produce an action that is the best one a utilitarianist would consider both long and short term effects. Two sub categories of utilitarianism include act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. act utilitarianism bases an action on the overall well being produced by an individual.

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Consequentialist believe that morality is about producing the right overall consequences, and that the action brings about either happiness, freedom or survival of species. Utilitarianism is an example of consequentialism that maximizes utility (happiness). The difference between utilitarianism and consequentialism is that a utilitarian overlooks justice, as long as an utilitarian can maximize pleasure they would do whatever it takes. Consequentialist enjoy maximizing pleasure like a utilitarian, but they also take into account autonomy and justice. A consequentialist believes that determining good by measuring the outcome, if the good for all in the act is greater than the bad for all in the act, it is deemed morally good.

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