Applying ethical theory : utilitarian theories

Mickey D.

Order the writing of a tailor-made Philosophy Essay

Free quote online

Essay Format .doc

Applying ethical theory : utilitarian theories

Download

Read an extract

Themes

Ethical theory, utilitarian theories, philosophers, goodness, utilitarism

Reader
Abstract
Contents
Extract

Abstract

What is moral and what is not moral has been debated for centuries by philosophers. A lot of people come to find that it happens to be much complicated than simply being kind. Despite the fact that each individual leads a different journey from the others, being ethical has much to do with self-discovery as well as one's role within the society. For a person to be truly ethical, one has to consider the meaning of goodness to him/herself. Is it happiness for oneself or for others too? Utilitarianism guides individuals to do what brings happiness to them at the end, however, is it ethical that others can be hurt for the sake of an individual to find happiness?

What is moral and what is not moral has been debated for centuries by philosophers
Utilitarianism happens to be a normative theory, which does place the locus of wrong and right on the consequences for choosing one action over other actions
As a normative arrangement that provide a standard through which a person should act and through which the existing society's practices
Practice could have had outcomes, leading to loss of trustworthiness as well as security
These problems are common among almost every normative ethical theory due to the fact that most of these theories recognize the consequences of a particular action as being ethical considerations that are ethical

Get this table of contents for free after login.

Extract

[...] The believe of Bentham was that only in Utilitarian interpretation terms do words like right, wrong and ought have meaning as well as attempting to combat the utility principle can only be done with reasons that are drawn from the same principle (SINGER, 2003). Bill and Bentham believed that the motivator of human actions is entirely pain and pleasure; since the soul end for the actions of individuals, then happiness promotion happens to be the test by which human conduct can be judged. According to Henry Sidgwick, utilitarianism follows from orderly reflection on the common sense morality. [...]

[...] It might be asked if the entire normative ethics could by this formula be analyzed. Utilitarianism may be viewed as one among the best theories of ethics in the sense that it advocates for happiness especially, in the fact that not only the happiness of the person whom performs the act but everyone who gets involved in the whole scenario. Everyone is left happy unlike in other theories that advocate for self-interest for personal happiness even at the expense of other people. [...]

[...] Utilitarian Theories. Online Quide to Ethics and Moral Philosophy SINGER, P. (2003). VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA. A UTILITARIAN PERSPECTIVE, 526- 541. [...]

[...] He argued that most of common sense morality requirements could be founded upon considerations of utilitarianism. Additionally, Henry Sidgwick reasoned that it was possible for utilitarianism to solve the complexities as well as difficulties which arise from the inconsistencies as well as vagueness of commonsense doctrines (Robert, 2002). One criticism happens to be that despite the fact that the widespread stealing and lying practice could have had outcomes, leading to loss of trustworthiness as well as security, it may not be certain that an infrequent theft from some wealthy person or lie for avoiding embarrassment would fail to bear good consequences, and therefore be required or permissible by utilitarianism. [...]

doc