For utilitarian school of thought, an individual strives to do the most good, even at the expense of the minority. Utilitarianism and Kantianism find the basis of their differences in the idea that the ends justify the means. Utilitarian beliefs support this idea while Kantian philosophy rejects this. Modern ethics were devised from these two basic ethical beliefs in an attempt to combine the best aspects. Generally, the morally “right” action benefits the majority while affecting the fewest amount in a negative way.
This just means that the act is correct as long as it brings happiness to the greatest amount of people. Sidgwick and Bentham believed in similar views and are seen as act utilitarians. Act utilitarianism is when you have to decide what action would bring about the greatest good so it depends on the consequences of the action so the rightness or wrongness of something can be changed. Rule utilitarianism believes that rules should be created by using utilitarian principles
Therefore, deontologists follow the belief that certain actions are inherently good if they follow the stated rules even if the action has bad consequences, it can still be defined as moral. In contrast, teleological ethical systems focus completely on the outcomes and consequences of an act. Teleology is a theory of ethics according to which the rightness of an act is determined by it's end. Also known as consequentialism, actions that result in what can be considered as a good consequence must be good and so the end result will justify the reason that the act was committed in the first place. Both deontological and teleological ethical systems use opposing ethical guides yet they both have the same aim, to help people make moral decisions.
Aristotle also suggests happiness conforms to goodness of virtue (Kucukuysal and Beyhan, 2011). To be happy and good, one must make the right choices. Virtue is taught and learned. The ability to define happiness and decide what is virtuous is an individual choice based upon life teachings and experience. In order to make someone else happy, you must be happy with yourself.
Psychological Egoism as a moral theory describes self-centeredness. Psychological Egoism is a belief that human behavior or conduct comes under the influence of self-interest and not community. Psychological Egoism holds a strong ground that all humans get motivated to act or perform certain duties only in pursuit of their own advantage and not for others. Where Ethical Egoism is that we ought to be happy for others when at the same time making our self's or own being happy. For me I think it starts with morality in a person.
Virtues ethics can be used to determine the right and wrong of an action. Moral virtues are based on the means of courage, generosity, mildness, and moderation. Action more beneficial to a group is known as utilitarianism. Sometimes this has been shortened to the slogan “the greatest good for the greatest number” or simply put,
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.
Utilitarianism is consequentalist ethical theory. When an action is judged entirely on the utility. So an action would be determined on the outcome and the consequences. In utilitarianism the utility of an action is decided on how much pleasure and happiness is gained from it, so it is about maximising happiness as much as possible rather than gaining pain and sadness. The two most well known utilitarian’s are Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
Bentham founded the principle of utility, which states that an action is right if it “produces the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people.” Bentham believed good is the maximization of pleasure and the minimization of pain, and that the greatest good is the greatest pleasure that creates the less pain overall for the majority. There are two main types of Utilitarianism act and rule. Bentham is known as the Act utilitarian. Act utilitarianism is when making a moral decision the best or most moral action we can perform is one that will enable to bring the best consequences for the majorities’ happiness. For example a man has the choice to shoot one person and save thousands or walk away and let thousands die.
In one of the abstracts in Bentham’s Principles of Morality and Legislation, Bentham states that the judgement or criterion of good and evil is balanced between the happiness of individuals and the happiness of the community (Utilitarian Philosophy, 2010). On the other hand, consequentialism in utilitarianism is based on the fact that human beings are judged based on consequences. In other words, “an action must be judged for its consequences on the happiness of the largest number of people” (Utilitarian Philosophy, 2010). To be more specific, according to