Utilitarianism An Ethical Philosophy Created By John...

Brandy Fussell Professor Legum Jan. 14, 2017 Ethics 74 Utilitarianism is an ethical philosophy created by John Stuart Mill, it focuses on the happiness of a large group of people in society which is considered to be the greater good. According to Mill’s doctrine, it focuses on actions that creates happiness and unhappiness, the happiness is considered to cause pleasure and unhappiness which is considered the reverse of pleasure, which is pain. The fundamental principle of morality is the actions are right if they promote happiness and wrong it it lead to unhappiness but there are two odd things about this principle 1. There are degrees of rightness and wrongness â€Å"actions and right in proportion† and 2. A concrete act does not†¦show more content†¦The death of those five workers will cause more dolors to large amount of people than if the fat man is thrown over the bridge killing him which will be less dolors because only a small amount of people will be unhappy. Categorical imperative by Immanuel Ka nt is a philosophical moral concept that is defined as a way of evaluating the motivation of an action. His theory also states that the outcome shouldn’t be based on whether the action is right or wrong for example, if a person does something right the outcome should be something positive and if a person does something wrong the outcome should be negative. Kant defines a maxim as â€Å"a subjective principle of motive†, for example, I need money, and can get it only by borrowing it - even though I know that I cannot repay the money - I might proceed to borrow it from a friend. The maxim of this action is whenever I need to borrow money and can get it by borrowing it, I will borrow it even if I know that I will not be able to repay it. Generalized maxims are maxims that represent multiple people, for example, when I don’t have money, I will steal (maxim). Whenever anyone doesn’t have money, he/she will steal (general maxim). Another concept of Kantâ€℠¢s theory is the universal law of nature and freedom. Universal law of nature states how things must be (not only how theyShow MoreRelatedUtilitarianism : Bentham And Mill766 Words   |  4 PagesUtilitarianism: Bentham VS. Mill 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 philosophies of Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), Utilitarianism began in England in the 19th Century. Read MoreUtilitarianism Vs. Mill Utilitarianism1004 Words   |  5 PagesVS. Mill 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. 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