Utilitarianism Essays : The Happiest And Pleasure Of The Most People Not Included The Personal Happiness

Utilitarianism considers the pleasure and pain of every individual affected by an action. It also considers everyone to be equal and does not permit an individual to put their interests or relationships first. After this it attempts to provide an objective, quantitative method for making moral decisions. Utilitarianism is not able to assign quantitative measures to all pleasures and pains, and does not address the issue of some pleasures and pains that cannot or should not be measured-such as human life or human suffering.

Utilitarianism, in the contrary, is based on the principle of utility or usefulness. Utility is what encourages an agent to act in a particular way (Tuckett, 1998). Utility can be explained as maximizing the good like pleasure and happiness and minimizing the bad like pain and evil, all leading to the greater good for all parties involved. It weights the consequences of the actions equally between the ones involved, and the ethical solution would be to follow the greater good for most if not all the parties involved.

153). In essence, utilitarianism is maximizing everyone’s happiness, which can almost be considered a universal acceptance (Boylan, 2009, p. 154). Jeremy Bentham is one of the proponents of modern utilitarianism and states, “nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure” (Boylan, 2009, p. 154). In business utilitarianism shares the nonmoral views that the best decision that had no moral conflict would be to maximize profit, which would be the greatest good of the company and its employees (Boylan, 2009, p. 162). Utilitarianism does not always hold true in some minds. Utilitarianism does not take into account motives of the people (Boylan, 2009, p. 165). “If one acts in accord with the general principle and its corollaries, then one is moral” (Boylan, 2009, p. 165).

Ever since the 17th century, utilitarianism -and many more political ideals like it, started becoming popular, and rightfully so as the world grew unbalanced economically due to expansionism. Utilitarianism is used precisely for achieving overall happiness in a society and does so without regards to how it is achieved. Specifically, to achieve the greatest

However, utilitarianism is criticized for its disregard for justice, fairness, and individual rights even though it provides a flexible and practical approach to ethics. Critics contend that the sacrifice of innocent lives for the sake of greater good is a violation to basic justice and fairness values, as well as people's rights to life and independence Additionally, the utilitarian calculation of happiness may overlook the intrinsic value of each individual and the potential for unintended

Explain in your own words the logic of Mill’s argument, and critically discuss whether happiness should be the criterion of morality.

There are many different theories and beliefs on what promotes the greatest amount of happiness. An account that I agree with most and one we recently covered in class is the Utilitarian Principle of Happiness. The utilitarians belief systems success is one that can prove itself over and over again in our everyday lives. They use actions as a promotional tool for happiness, acting the right way will result in happiness whereas acting in the wrong way will not. Throughout this response essay I will be demonstrating why I believe the Utility Principle is the best way to gain happiness for the greatest number of people but also point out how it does not often relate to the way people act.

Lazy fall days, colorful leaves, cooler weather, birds singing, frogs croaking, crickets chirping, relaxing to the sounds of the outdoors. Waves of water crashing upon each other, fishing, telling stories around a campfire, making s’mores, memories with family and friends; this is what happiness is to me. Happiness is in the eye of the beholder, what brings happiness to one person may not bring happiness to another person. When I think of the word happiness, I think of descriptive words like Contentment, enjoyment, satisfaction, delightfulness, something that makes a person smile. I have always looked at the word happiness as a feeling, an action, never have I thought of happiness as an overall affect. However, it is a proven fact, that happiness can affect the over-all health and longevity of human life. Happy people live longer than those that are lonely, stressed, or depressed.

Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that holds the morally right course of action in any given situation is the course of which yields the greatest balance of benefits over harms. More specifically, utilitarianism’s core idea is that the effects of an action determine whether actions are morally right or wrong. Created with the philosophies of Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), Utilitarianism began in England in the 19th Century. Bentham and Mill built their system of Utilitarianism on ancient hedonism (pursuing physical pleasure and avoiding physical pain). Although both of these philosophers agreed on the basic principals of Utilitarianism they disagreed on what exactly hedonism is.

Utilitarian views are based on the production of happiness, pleasure, and utility. Our actions as human beings are judged as right or wrong. Moral actions in society produce pleasure and immoral actions produce pain. Utilitarianism focuses on actions that should be taken for a society not for just one person. The whole idea is to maximize happiness, do what will produce more pleasure for all and not what will bring pain for all. The Katian perspective focuses on universal rights, not just on a community as a whole but also on an individual. Honesty is very important because it is morally right. Doing something just because it produces a lot of pleasure to many people does not mean that it is right. Katian views goes against Utilitarian views because Kant does not believe that pleasure and happiness of all should go over an individual. Just because there is a majority in favor of a rule does not make it fair for all. According to utilitarianism it is unjust for the government to lie about matters of foreign and military policy because you are supposed to maximize the benefits for the community as a whole to produce happiness. In the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution we see that there is a maximizing of benefits but for the government officials and president not the people. The government is only focused on themselves and not on the people who should be their main focus and priority. Before taking any action the government should evaluate all of the possible actions and the

Personally utilitarianism does not follow my core beliefs and what I see in the bible. Our happiness and pleasures are not always right and biblical. We are fallen and sin even if the action is seemingly good. Thus doing things for the greater good can cause us to sin and do things that are morally outside of our beliefs and what Jesus taught in the bible.

Utilitarianism is a moral theory that has long been the subject of philosophical debate. This theory, when practiced, appears to set a very basic guideline to follow when one is faced with a moral dilemma. Fundamental Utilitarianism states that when a moral dilemma arises, one should take action that causes favorable results or reduces less favorable results. If these less favorable results, or pain, occur from this action, it can be justified if it is produced to prevent more pain or produce happiness. Stating the Utilitarian view can summarize these basic principles: "the greatest good for the greatest number". Utilitarians are to believe that if they follow this philosophy, that no matter what action they take, it

The theory of Utilitarianism states that actions should be judged as right or wrong depending on whether they cause more happiness or unhappiness. It weighs the rightness and wrongness of an action based on consequences of that action.

Utilitarianism is a theory aimed at defining one simple basis that can be applied when making any ethical decision. It is based on a human’s natural instinct to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

The concept of Utilitarianism was developed by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). He belonged to the positivist school of Jurisprudence. According to him every human life is governed by two hedonistic principles that is pleasure and pain. He believed that every individual tries to maximize his own and pleasure and also decrease pain as much as possible. Although it would seem an individualistic perspective but he also applied this principle to the society as a whole. According to him the role of every government in the society is to maximize the greatest good of the greatest number. He also