Explaining Utilitarianism Essay example - 1057 Words

Explaining Utilitarianism Utilitarianism, in its most basic form is the greatest happiness for the greatest number. Coming from the Latin word, utilis, which means useful. Jeremy Bentham wrote, in one of his books in 1789, that utility is, a property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happinessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦orà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ to prevent the happenings of mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness. It is easy to assume that utilitarianism is based on the fact that if something is useful, then it is moral. However, this is very wrong, the theory is much more complex than this, being involved in decisions, actions and consequences. The theory of Utilitarianism†¦show more content†¦A huge weakness of this theory is that if one were to take the example of ten rapists, raping the same person, it would, according to the Hedonic Calculus, be perfectly alright. This is because the pleasure of the ten rapists would outweigh the pain of the one victim of the rapes. Although this method of moral decision-making is simple, it does require one to predict and assume. We would have to assume the amount of please and happiness that would be experienced, we also have no idea what the consequences of our actions, after the decision has been made would be. Lastly, we need to decide what actually pleasure is. We all each have our own idea of pleasure, and pleasure to one person, maybe pain to another. Also, in taking the example of a dentist extracting a tooth. We may experience pleasure in the long term, by being able to retain our own healthy teeth and preventing other teeth from becoming decayed, but we would have to undergo a great deal of pain to extract the tooth, fill in a tooth and so on. Benthams theory of Utilitarianism came under the act umbrella. Act utilitarianism is concerned with the outcome of the action toShow MoreRelatedJohn Stuart Mill ´s The Greatest Happiness Principle Essay906 Words   |  4 PagesI will be explaining John Stuart Mill’s view on ethics. This includes explaining the â€Å"Greatest Happiness Principle†, happiness, unhappiness, quality of pleasure, lying, and the relevance of time with his view. I will then explain how I agree with the principle of Rule Utilitarianism. I will also consider the objection of conflicting rules in Rule Utilitarianism as well as that of negative responsibility, giving my response to each. Mill claims that morals find their root in Utility, otherwise calledRead MoreKant And Mill On Animal Ethics Essay1365 Words   |  6 PagesIn this essay I will begin by explaining the overall views of Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill, then compare and contrast the ideas and philosophies of Kant and Mill on Animal Ethics. 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