The principle of utility also advocates that, the correctness or incorrectness of a deed is dependent on the ability for the action to lead to joy or sadness. If an action aims at supporting pleasure and preventing pain, then it rhymes to this principle, and it is morally right. On the contrary, if it does not aim at promoting happiness or preventing pain, then it does not match to the principle of utility, and it is morally incorrect. This principle is argued to be the morally correct principle of deeds at all situations. The principle of utility continually states that morally right actions produce happiness for all the affected people whose concerns are involved in the picture.
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) then decided to develop his idea of Utilitarianism from this quote and apply it to all areas of social activity. Bentham was a hedonist believing that pleasure was the chief ‘good’ and that all aspects of life should maximize pleasure and minimize pain and those that did were the most moral acts. He created the principle of utility which established whether an action was good or bad according to the benefits to the majority amount of people. This is sometimes described as ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’ of people making Bentham’s theory quantitative. Bentham said ‘the principle of utility aims to promote happiness which is the supreme ethical value.’ In determining how to measure different amounts of pleasure and deciding on the right and good thing to do Bentham came up with the Hedonistic Calculus.
Consequentialism assumes that if human being would weigh the outcome of their taboos and beliefs, then happiness can be achieved and pain reduced. But utilitarianism assumes that people can only value a virtue if it is deemed beneficial in accomplishing human happiness. For example utilitarians believe that truth will make a better society while consequentialists believe that truth will make a better society only if the outcome causes no harm. Basically utilitarianism assumes that the wrongness or rightness of an act depends on the moral good produced as a result of doing that act. This implies that an act is right if it minimizes violation of a certain moral right thus no one should violate moral rights for happiness sake and be justified.
Assess Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is a consequentialist approach to ethics, meaning the consequences of an act are what matters. The utilitarian answer as to what to do in any situation is that we should always act to maximise utility. There are two different interpretations of utilitarianism; the positive being that we ought to do that which brings about the greatest happiness of the greatest number and the negative being that we ought to do that which minimises pain or suffering. Utilitarianism is teleological, or goal orienteered, meaning that the end matters more than the means used to achieve the end. The various forms present two major problems; the problem of justice, and the issue of having to predict the consequences of an action.
Whenever pleasure is present, as long as it is there, there is neither pain of body nor of mind, nor both at once. I have to disagree with this statement. Epicurus seems to see pleasure and painful as something too much interrelated or I could say it seems like a negative relationship, because in reality it is not always has to be this way. We could feel both pleasure and painful at the same time. I do think we should take a look on how we measure the pleasure and the painful itself.
Gonzalez, Jessika Dr. Jeffries Essay #1 09/28/12 What is happiness? There are many different definitions of happiness and happiness is determined by each individual. “The Aim of Man” by Aristotle and “The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson both discuss the meaning of happiness means to them. By discussing their attitudes towards material and spiritual happiness as well as their attitudes toward political freedom and the need for possessions, Jefferson and Aristotle, wrote what they feel about happiness. Aristotle defines happiness as the final good which means, to live a good life, by doing good deeds and happiness depends upon us.
If the action produces happy and good consequences versus bad, then it’s the morally right action to follow. “But our calculation is not yet over, for the utilitarian principle tells us that in order for the action to be right, it must produce the greatest good for the greatest number of those affected by it.”(De George, page 47) We would need to drill down into almost every person affected by an action to completely render it morally right, the decision would need to produce the greatest amount of good. Ultimately, for Bentham there was no better man. Everyone had the opportunity in creating the greatest amount of happiness and pleasure. In his eyes, men could produce happiness for anyone involved in any
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory of morality that follows the “Greatest Happiness Principle” for judging whether an action is morally right or wrong. This principle states that an action should bring the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people. Here, happiness is the primary good that is intrinsically good in itself. A utilitarian would describe happiness as the presence of pleasure and the absence of pain. Therefore, a morally right action would be one that provides more pleasure than pain to the greatest number of people.
A: Explain the principle of utilitarianism giving reference to both act and rule utilitarianism. Utilitarianism comes from the Latin word “utilis” which means usefulness. Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes utility, specifically defined maximising pleasure and minimising pain. Act utilitarianism focuses on the individual person and the quantity of the happiness instead of the quality. Act Utilitarianism is a utilitarian theory of ethics which states that a person's act is morally right if and only if it produces at least as much happiness as any other act that the person could perform at that time.
Mills vs. Rawls John Stuart Mill’s view on moral decisions rests on the utility associated with an action’s happiness. Mill’s primary belief in the “Greatest Happiness Theory” which can also be called Utilitarianism is that those actions are desirable and right if they tend to promote happiness and pleasure and discourage pain. Mill says that all other things may be valued either for the amount of pleasure they involve, or for how influential they are in leading to pleasure. Human beings experience pleasures natural only to themselves, that animals do not have the capabilities of understanding or experiencing. These “higher” pleasures are higher in quality, but lesser in quantity.