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the greatest good... or not. The Greatest Good… or not Utilitarianism is
not a new moral theory. However there is discussion and ...
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... Bentham's Utilitarianism theory uses the principle of 'the greatest good for the
greatest number'. However this is not a very useful theory for people when ...
Submitted by sexycow on June 16, 2008
Category: Philosophy
Words: 1573 | Pages: 7
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The Greatest Good… or not
Utilitarianism is not a new moral theory. However there is discussion and will continue to be discussion for years to come on the validity of the theory. We constantly wonder if it is truly the “right” way to live, and in the following we will discuss both the positives and negatives of utilitarianism as well as some argument for, and against such a moral code. Before we begin with the arguments surrounding utilitarianism it is important that we first understand what the theory is, and what it means. Utilitarianism is what is called a consequentiality approach to ethics. This approach argues that humans should act in ways that bring about the best possible results from their actions. This tends to be weighted in terms of happiness versus unhappiness or pleasure versus pain. It is important to differentiate between the two major types of consequentialist theory. The first is called ethical egoism in which the happiness ought to be directed at yourself, and the second, the one we will be discussing is utilitarianism. Utilitarians argue that your actions should be directed at promoting the most good for the most amount of people. It is also important to note that utilitarianism does not tend to try and test a person’s virtue instead it tries to test each course of action separately.
It does seem obvious at first glance there is a large problem with this theory. We now have the responsibility to compare happiness. There is no way to measure happiness so how do we know which actions are causing the most happiness in those around us? It is possible that it could make someone happy to hurt people, and clearly a moral code should not allow such things to happen. However there are arguments that do solve this problem to a degree. If there is a man that likes to hurt people, these desires probably actually hurt the man in the long run. For example he could be sent to prison. Therefore the pleasure of this...
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