Compare Utilitarianism with the religion that you have studied
Utilitarianism VS Christianity
BASIC MAXIM – “THE GREATEST HAPPINESS FOR THE GREATEST NUMBER”
JEREMY BENTHAM – Act Utilitarianism (each action should be judged on its ability to bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number) - Devised principle of utility - Established a hedonic calculus to measure pleasure/pain brought about by each action.
JOHN STUART MILL – Rule Utilitarianism (rules should be formulated first, based on utilitarian principles. The individual can then judge whether specific acts are acceptable) – Worked for Bentham for many years – Mill distinguished between higher and lower pleasures and
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Although many Christians would claim that one's Conscience is the foundation of knowing what one ought to do in so far as obeying God, in the end, the decision to act in certain ways is clearly based on the belief that in doing so positive outcomes, leading to increased pleasure, will result.
- For example, in Deuteronomy 28:1-68 God issues to the Israelites, via Moses, commandments which had positive consequences if they were obeyed (pleasure) and negative consequences if people disobeyed (pain).
- The Bible is very clear that pursuit of pleasure for its own sake can lead one into sin.
- One of the best examples of the principle of utility in the Bible is Jesus willingly giving up his life and going to death on the cross where he would endure extreme torture and suffering. So despite his immediate suffering, obedience to God and the positive benefits that his death would bring to the world were considered far greater by him than disobedience (or, obedience would bring both himself and the world greater happiness than disobedience).
- The Bible seems to be saying that obedience to God is the means by which people attain a real sense of satisfaction (or pleasure) in their life.
- Devotion to God based on Utilitarian principles can also be seen in the
Utilitarianism is a philosophical theory that states something is considered to be right when it does the most good for most the most amount of people (Duignan 2015). This theory doesn’t consider the feelings of the individual; it considers the feelings of the majority (Duignan 2015). Utilitarianism is very different from relativism, which takes into account the totality of circumstances, this philosophical theory states that what is considered to be right or wrong can vary depending on people and society (Rachels 2015).
The ethical teachings and values of utilitarianism and Christian ethics are similar in some aspects, yet however are diverse in others. Utilitarianism is a generally teleological ethical system, where the outcome is said to justify the act. The act is considered ‘good’ if it brings about the greatest good for the greatest number. Christian Ethics, however, can be quite different. Many aspects of its ethics are deontological, for example, the Decalogue and Natural Law. There are other differences and indeed some similarities which will be considered throughout this essay.
John Stuart Mill’s principle of utility or the greatest happiness principle is the foundation of his ethical theory. The principle of utility holds that an individual must always act in a manner that produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number. He defines happiness as pleasure or the
If you had the option to choose, would you rather live in a society where you are treated as a rational being or a world where your contentment in life could all be taken away as a means of contributing to someone else’s happiness. When reflecting upon ethics and the many different theories, it is no question that Immanuel Kant and Jeremy Bentham come to mind. After all, two of the most pronounced ethical theories are Kantianism and Utilitarianism. These two principles are extremely important and have had endless impacts on ethics and the world as a whole. These philosophers, Kant and Bentham, worked to study moral nature and developed theories based on moral philosophy. Although they are quite contrasting,
Libertarians reject Utilitarianism’s concerns for the total social well-being. While utilitarians are willing to restrict the liberty of some for the greater good, libertarians believe that justice consists solely of respect for individual property. If an individual isn’t doing something that interferes with anyone else’s liberty, then no person, group, or government should disturb he or she from living life as desired (not even if doing so would maximize social happiness). They completely disregard concern for an overall social well-being. Using a libertarian’s perspective, a state that taxes its better-off citizens to support the less fortunate ones violates their rights because they have not willingly chosen to do so. In that same context, a theory that forces capitalists to invest in people and natural capital is immoral. Nevertheless, libertarians encourage that people help those in need, as it is a good thing.
Utilitarianism is focused on making this life as pain-free as possible. However, the Bible tells us that there is more to our existence than just this life on earth. If all so we live is to maximize pleasure in life, we miss the bigger picture. Jesus said that he who lives only for this life will be greatly disappointed (Matthew 6:19). The apostle Paul says that the tribulations of this life, do not compare to the glory we will receive in eternity (2 Corinthians 4:17). The things of this life are temporary and transient (v.18). Our focus should be on maximizing our glory in heaven, not our life on
This mindset would involve looking at all of the values and disvalues that one’s life may provide to the majority at large. If the values outweigh the disvalues, then that person is morally permissible to live. However, if the disvalues appear to be more substantial, then a Utilitarian society would decide that the value of that person’s life is not benefitting the larger community so it is not morally permissible. While this is a very extreme example of how Utilitarianism can operate, nevertheless, it is able to show the strength that this method contains. The end goal of happiness that utilitarianism aims to achieve is one that Christians will find accordance with. God created all beings in His image and likeness with the goal of perfecting the human race as well for their utmost happiness. While both God and Utilitarianism do want happiness as the end to their means, Utilitarianism has different forms of means than Christianity does. Utilitarianism offers an economic and quantitative approach to calculating the ethical gains or losses behind their methodology of determining morality. For example, assume a patient comes into a primary care provider’s office with symptoms consistent with chronic kidney disease (renal disease). Although the disease at its current stage is manageable and therefore not end-stage, the patient will be required to incur the hefty costs associated with caring for
The difference between utilitarianism and relativism is: Utilitarianism suggests that “rightness” comes in different levels and one action can be “righter” than the other. For example, A person can win a large amount of money from the lottery and give family members that may need some help, or they can donate most of it to charities which could help allot of people in need. Giving the money to family may feel good but donating the money to people that really needs it would be the “better” thing to do because it would be good for those people. This would be the “righter” and least selfish thing to do which, would mentally make that person feel like they did the better or “righter thing”. Relativism suggests that one action can be righter than
During many years that question is being formulated and many scholars had a very difficult time to decide if it was possible to follow God's will and the principle of utility maximization. The principle of utility maximization was a theory created by John Stuart Mill and presented in his book Utilitarianism (1863). Societies throughout the years have argued that those theories are hard to combine, since Utilitarianism seeks for self-development and God's teachings seek for community growth. This paper will start with a context on actuality of society, then it will try to clarify what is the Bible view of Utilitarianism by explaining the principle of Utilitarianism, what society has to change
Utilitarianism is the actions that things are right by what makes others the happiest. Utilitarianism and Nietzsche theories are very important to know because they show us ways that our society conducts in. Knowing these theories can help us understand or even question the way we believe. The theory is Utilitarianism is an ethical theory of right and wrong and it solely relies on outcomes. Some criticisms of act-utilitarianism are slavery and the act that it was permissible if produced that person the greatest amount of happiness. Rule-utilitarianism is a rule that creates the greatest good, which means even if it’s a bad act upon society if it was to reach the greatest good, it is
Christianity and Humanism, based on an average intelligence of the principals, appear to be compatible. Christianity, a religion based on the belief of one, omniscient God, occupies some place in everyone’s life. Whether it is your religion, people around you believe, or you’ve heard of it, Christianity commonly affects lives around the world. Christians believe in God, who sent Jesus to suffer and die on the cross for everyone’s sins. As long as you accept, believe, and commit to God and living God-like, you will go to heaven.
The deliberate act of ending another 's life, given his or her consent, is formally referred to as euthanasia. At present, euthanasia is one of the most controversial social-ethical issues that we face, in that it deals with a sensitive subject matter where there is much uncertainty as to what position one ought to take. Deliberately killing another person is presumed by most rational people as a fundamental evil act. However, when that person gives his or her consent to do so, this seems to give rise to an exceptional case. This can be illustrated in the most common case of euthanasia, where the person who is willing to die suffers from an illness that causes great pain, and will result in his or her demise in the not-so-distant future.
Utilitarianism is the ethical belief that the happiness of the greatest number of people is the greatest good. Jeremy Betham and John Stuart Mill are two philosophers that were leading advocates for the utilitarianism that we study today. In order to understand the basis of utilitarianism, one must know what happiness is. John Stuart Mill defines happiness as the intended pleasure and absence of pain while unhappiness is pain and the privation of pleasure. Utilitarians feel the moral obligation to maximize pleasure for not only themselves, but for as many people as possible. All actions can be determined as right or wrong based on if they produce the maximum amount of happiness. The utilitarian belief that all actions can be determined as right or wrong based only on their repercussions connects utilitarianism to consequentialism. Consequentialism is the belief that an action can be determined morally right or wrong based on its consequences. Just like any other belief system, utilitarianism faces immense amount of praise and criticism.
Has anyone of us witnessed a team discussing an ethical decision involving a specific case study with many conflicting versions of the story? It is interesting to follow. Some of the debate participants feel so confident about being "right" that they will persist until they win the hearts of their opponents. Some participants will just waffle and attempt to analyze the situation from variant dimensions (Lukas 72). Analyzing a specific Case Study relating to terms of confidentiality, this document looks into definitions of morality under two independent systems- Kantianism and Utilitarianism theoretical approaches. This paper seeks to
Utilitarianism is a limiting ethical theory that fails to grasp ethically reality. “The greatest good for the greatest number” is not ethically right in every situation. Although the majority would benefit, the minority will heavily suffer. Considering the overall consequences of our actions, the good may not always outweigh the bad, but this does mean that the good will be the ethically right thing to do. One may think they are “maximizing the overall good,” but in reality, harming many.