Utilitarianism
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Utilitarianism
Introduction
In today's society, people are faced with moral problems everyday. Many philosophers have determined their own way of solving these problems. The philosophy I will be explaining in this paper is utilitarianism. I will state a moral problem someone close to me had to face. I will then explain utilitarianism and why I feel utilitarianism does not provide the right decision for this specific moral problem.
The Problem
Tami has a sister, Angie, who has been married for ten years to Tom. Together they have an eight year old son, Sam. Tami has just found out Tom is having an affair on Angie. Tami knows it is 100 percent true, for the fact she witnessed Tom out to dinner with another woman, whom he was clearly in a relationship with. Tami confronted the woman who then confirmed she and Tom were having an affair together. Tami's moral problem is, does she tell Angie or not?
Moral Theory
Utilitarianism is an action-based philosophy. It does not take into account a person's characteristics or motives. It is only concerns with a person's actions. Utilitarianism is the belief that the right thing to do is whatever will create the most happiness among the greatest amount of people. A person using this philosophy goes through a three step process to reach a decision. First, the person has to decide his or her options. Second, he or she has to decide who will be affected with the outcome. Lastly, he or she needs to decide how happy or unhappy the decision will make the people involved.
In my moral problem if Tami was a utilitarian she would chose not to tell Angie that Tom is having an affair. She would come to this decision by using the three step process I previously mentioned. First, she would think of her options. Her options are: 1) telling her sister; or 2) not telling her sister about the affair. Tami would then figure out who would be affected by the outcome. Tami takes into account the following people: Angie, Tom, Sam, the...
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- Submitted by: riare12
- Date Submitted: 10/24/2006 05:16 PM
- Category: Philosophy
- Words: 1417
- Pages: 6
- Views: 936
- Rank: 39541