Preview

Ultilitarianism

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
697 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ultilitarianism
For an action to be optimific, it needs to be able to produce the best overall consequence which might result in a majority group being happiness. But sometimes the happiness that happens as a result of some action might end up not being optimific. For example, when the U.S. invaded Iraq, most Americans were happy with the outcome (death of Osama Bin Laden). But when the U.S.’s decided to continue to be stationed overseas, this lead to an increase in emotional turmoil in the Middle East, which had already been building in result of drone strikes and other American operations causing a lot of “collateral damage.” This fear and turmoil increase to the birth and rise of some extremist groups that plague us today.
Some good and bad intentions lead
…show more content…
But this brings up an issue: most of morality is considered partial. It makes sense to care more about your children, family, and friends than complete strangers, but utilitarianism rejects this. If giving money, time, etc. to total strangers while “sacrificing the important needs of friends and family” results in the least amount harm than you are morally obligated to do so. We need to count everyone’s well being and interests equally. But this could lead to disastrous results. What if a majority of society benefits from an atrocity such as slavery? Utilitarianism would require us to allow it even if everyone’s interests were equally, since there would be a large amount of ‘benefit.’
In utilitarianism, there are no actions that are intrinsically wrong. “The morality of an action always depends on its results.” If those results are optimfic then the action is morally right. With this logic, killing/torturing innocents wouldn't be immoral. Most would recoil at this ‘immorality’, but, remember, in utilitarianism “kindness that fails to be optimific is immoral.” I believe this to a certain degree in which that in my opinion some immoral actions can be moral in certain circumstance. Contrastly, I think kindness is moral in most

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Utilitarianism is the ethical theory that believes one should do what will promote the greatest utility for as many people as possible, that utility is often considered to be happiness or pleasure. There are different kinds of utilitarian views; hedonistic, preference, rule, and act to name a few, but they all have the same main objective. This theory does indeed seem good at first, but it is flawed. The case of the lonesome stranger challenges utilitarianism by bringing up issues of justice in different kinds of utilitarianism. The lonesome stranger is a persuasive argument to utilitarianism, showing problems pertaining to justice.…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Another objection raised by Srinivasan will be by worrying about the world while your loved one is in need without the help of anyone will not make us happy. As the Utilitarian want everyone to think like them and care for others and their happiness. We are normal people who cannot be forced to anything that we don’t want. For instance, If the utilitarian suggest we donate to Donald Trump’s funds because that money goes to affected areas. And If I was an immigrant from the middle east or South Africa, I would not donate to Trump’s funds for many reasons. One, he only cares about the American people then why should my money goes to them when I can give it to charities back in my country in the middle east or Africa. Two, with the donation the funds can become so stronger that can create more racism and kick me out from the US. We have our own personal identity and loyalties. People will always be loyal to the people that are always there for…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Utilitarianism Act means to do the right action that will benefit a good amount of people over any other option. In the two examples I read from Bernard Williams “A Critique of Utilitarianism” I realized those were two difficult choices these two men had to make. However, if we follow the Utilitarianism Act, George would of taken the job offer and Jim would unfortunately sacrifice one of the protestors to save the rest. By George taking the job offer, it would benefit his family financially and also help his family’s emotional battle. Also, George opposing chemical and biological warfare would mean he wont have much interest compared to the other gentlemen that had much more interest on the subject. This will benefit a large amount of people…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Correct! Utilitarianism is based on the principle of maximizing happiness (or any other measure of utility) for the greatest number of people, as well as minimizing unhappiness for the greatest number. The means of achieving this outcome is not as much of an issue as the actual outcome for the utilitarian.…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Utilitarianism ethics emphasize that action should be morally beneficial to a group. This course of ethics is often known as “the greatest good for the greatest number” or simply put, “the greater good” (Boylan, 2009). In other words, the consequence of any ethical action should be beneficial for all by mass appeal. This is a common underlying theme for ethics in capitalist economies and business as well as in democratic governments (Boylan, 2009).…

    • 761 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Utilitarian ethical theories are based on one’s ability to expect the concerns of an deed. Utilitarianism’s creed is that the result of any action takes importance over any type of means, this means that Utilitarianisms objective is to help as many individuals as possible even if it were to negatively disturb people along the way so as long as it helped the general populace. Basically, it’s the ends that matter not necessarily the means.…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    I will first explicate on the theory of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is a philosophical theory which states that that which is right is what brings the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest maximum number of people. The act that manages to fulfill this criteria is the act that is then morally right. As a result, whenever we consider what is a morally right action to do, we have to keep in mind that the action that would make it so that the accumulated level of happiness in the majority would be higher than the accumulated number of unhappiness in a majority. As well, utilitarianism is bias-free, in that the happiness levels of your close friends and family do not take priority over the happiness levels of the neighbors next door, or of people in countries that you have never visited and will never…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Utilitarianism claims that everyone shares a common intrinsic value of happiness and that because this is seen as the most important value in life, we should try to maximize…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With consideration to absolute moral prohibition, it would be wrong to murder any number of innocent persons, despite any beneficial consequences. The benefits of murdering one would not outweigh the means of the action.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Stuart Mill

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. Happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain.” – John Stuart Mill…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Is Torture Wrong

    • 1345 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In a utilitarian’s eyes if the good outweighs the bad in torturing a convicted terrorist than he/she would agree to it or vice versa. When it comes to war, countries have to have an ethnic guideline to follow. In most situations, America has followed the rules of utilitarianism. As a leader or influential figure, one has to look at what is good for the whole nation and not just themselves or groups of people. Therefore, if torture was ever legalized, it would put our own soldiers or citizens at risk if the enemy ever captured one. Although our enemy may use torture regardless, if we publicly look down upon torture then our enemies may be less likely to use it. Torture still should be secretly used when necessary. For example, if our country is going to be bombed and millions of lives are at stake, torture would be permissible in order to try to save those lives. Also, keeping it from the public would create more good then it would bad; therefore, under the utilitarian views, it would be morally permissible to not tell public about it (Doing Ethics). A utilitarian would agree with my views on torture because although torture is bad and not necessarily good, in some situations, it can protect many lives and even our nation. Therefore, the good would outweigh the bad. Also, on the other hand, a utilitarian can disagree with torture in some cases. For example, if the government ever tortured someone out of spite and not for a legitimate reason or cause, then a utilitarian would disapprove. A utilitarian has to always weigh the good and bad in a situation. (Doing Ethics). As long as torture is used to combat evil in our world and keeps the lives of our soldiers and citizens safe, it is morally…

    • 1345 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Occupy Wall Street

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Utilitarian is the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our actions. The greatest happiness of all constitutes the standard that determines whether an action is right or wrong. Our belief that we are individuals and society is the net result of our choices. For example, the practice of blowing up rocks to release underground natural gas would not be permitted near residential areas if energy complaints…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Utilitarianism Is Wrong

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages

    First I would like to start off by defining what utilitarian mean well based off of the module a utilitarian is the person who believes in the greater good in other words a person who would take losses and justify it’s worth by the results gained from it. Now in regard to the question on how might utilitarian respond to the situation of the innocent man who was executed in order to keep the citizens from rioting. My answer to that is it would be the exact same result, because of how a utilitarian thinks. In situations like this I would guess that a utilitranian would not even hesitate to kill the innocent man, because a utilitrain would think that excuting the innocent man would be beneficial for the majority of the citizens so he would…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bus Ethics

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Utilitarian’s are the people that seem to see no difference between justice and morality. According to Utilitarian’s, morality and justice have similar qualities but they don’t see either one having more importance or a higher priority than the other. Most of the utilitarian ideas and beliefs link morality to economic distribution, the law and to politics. However…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    (Pojman 764) Singer’s explained that an individual would work day in and out just to satisfy their pleasure and pain. But, that is not necessarily the only interest that matters and it is most definitely not the most important interest on Earth. Moreover, utilitarianism is a moral theory that says right actions are those that result in the most beneficial balance of good over bad consequences for everyone involved. Therefore, if everyone on Earth was to convert to a utilitarian where people must act against their own interest and be willing to do more good than bad. (Pojman 763) An example is Election Day; you know that your vote is not going to affect the presidential circumstances so you don’t bother spending your day on choosing and voting for a president. However, you can do more good by choosing to spend your day cleaning your neighborhood or having a movie night with family. In general, most of major evils; poverty, overpopulation, and pollution are common problems that everyone should be willing to help and avoid them. (Pojman 761) Therefore, if the world comes to an agreement into paying small amounts, like five dollars every six months, then organizations would have billions of dollars to support and prevent people from entering poverty. Moreover, for issues such as overpopulation, countries can set certain limits on population or land usage. Third, pollution has been an issue for centuries, and the only way to slow it down is by cutting down on unneeded materials and give back to the needy. (Pojman…

    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays