In life, human beings are always required to make decisions and actions on certain things regardless of age, it is essential in order to live. However, the ways we act have an impact on happiness and on our lives; therefore, doing good action is believed to be the key to live well. What is considered as good actions, though? Here are some beliefs that determine good actions: utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. They all have ideas on measurement of good actions, and despite the differences on the three ideas, they all pursue to the same goal: to be happy at the end. However, due to their differences, I prefer utilitarianism.
Utilitarianism is the concepts of right actions and consequences. If an action is good, it should maximizing
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It is not about duties and rules, or the consequences of actions. A virtuous person is someone who acts virtuously. According to Hursthouse, “Charity or benevolence... is the virtue whose concern for the good of others... related to the concepts of the worthwhile, the advantageous, and the pleasant” (171), which means, virtue could be about being kind or honest. In virtue ethics, actions cannot determine if a person is virtuous, only if one does an action with rational thoughts. It is not a habit of acting, it is about if it feels right to do so. It is about doing something what the inner self thinks it is right, not about other purposes. It is also virtuous if someone is living well and …show more content…
While growing up, I always hear people say “think about the bigger picture”. We should care about the consequences and expect what might happen after taking an action so we don’t regret or hurt ourselves and others. An objection from deontology might be what if the intention for the action is self-interested. Well, Even if it is self-interested, if most people are still going to be happy, isn’t it still better while having benefits for the self and others? One major problem for deontology is the duties people are supposed to follow from a long time ago might be viewed as wrong today, therefore, there is a possibility that today’s moral duty could be wrong. Well, maybe not today, but what about 50 years later? We cannot know what is in the future for us to decide if something is always right or always wrong. For virtue ethics, one problem is there is no agreement on what is virtuous. Different acts of “virtuous” actions come from different cultures, and some actions from a culture could be viewed as wrong. For example, we might judge a culture, that cuts the enemies’ heads and eats it, morally wrong, while the culture themselves would think it is perfectly right and virtuous because they are killing the evils away. In addition to criticisms, both deontology and virtue ethics do not have clear way to resolve conflicts or what is actually good moral action because of the fact that they depend on
There are two basic kinds of ethical judgments. The first have to do with duty and obligation. For example: "Thou shalt not kill, lie, or steal." "You just keep your promises." These judgments often uphold minimal standards of onduct and (partly for that reason) assert or imply a moral ‘ought.’ The second kind of judgment focuses on human excellence and the nature of the good life. These judgments employ as their most general terms "happiness," "excellence," and perhaps "flourishing" (in addition to "the good life"). For example: "Happiness requires activity and not mere passive consumption." "The good life includes pleasure, friendship, intellectual development and physical health." I take these to be the two general types of ethical judgment, and all particular ethical judgments to be examples of these. The main contention of this paper is that we must carefully distinguish these two types of judgments, and not try to understand the one as a special case of the other.
The Virtue, Utilitarianism, and Deontological concepts all have something in a common. Each one of these three concepts concentrates on an individual’s actions leading to various options, in addition to how the options affected others. The variations within each of these concepts are who engaged and was impacted by those options. The Virtue concept concentrates on an individual's character. One could stay in their lifestyle by seeking quality in everything they and others do (Boylan, 2009). The Utilitarianism concept considers that an activity, which is created to the advantage of a team, is fairly appropriate, if it delivers the biggest advantage to that team (Boylan, 2009). Utilitarianism is frequently known through the motto, “The biggest excellent for the biggest variety (Boylan, 2009).” between the three theories, Deontology is the most different. This concept moves around ones choice to control. Deontologists create options depending on understanding that something is right without concern to the higher excellent of others (Boylan, 2009).
In this essay I will consider the objections to Virtue Ethics (VE) raised by Robert Louden in his article entitled On Some Vices of Virtue Ethics which was published in 1984. It is important to note at the outset of this essay that it was not until 1991 that the v-rules came up in literature. So Louden is assuming throughout his article that the only action guidance that VE can give is “Do what the virtuous agent would do in the circumstances.” I will be addressing Louden’s objections with the benefit of knowing about the v-rules. First of all, let us discuss what VE is. VE is a normative ethical theory that emphasises the virtues or moral character, thus it focuses on the moral agent. It differs from Deontology which emphasises duties or rules, and Utilitarianism which emphasises the consequences of our actions.
“Utilitarianism is the creed which accepts as the foundations of morals utility of the greatest happiness principle holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” (Mil, 90). Utilitarianism ethics is based on the greatest good for the greatest number meaning that the moral agent does what he/she thinks will be
The main principle of utilitarianism is the greatest happiness principle. It states that, "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure" (Mill, 1863, Ch. 2, p330). In other words, it results with the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people that are involved.
Additionally, duty theories clarify what “morality” means, for example to care defenceless people, like children or the elderly. Pufendorf added indisputable obligations, for example “do not hurt others”, “give humans equal treatment” and “ always act aiming at the best intentions”. Kant added the “treat people as an end” principle, thus not
Utilitarianism is a moral theory that approaches moral questions of right and wrong by considering the actual consequences of a variety of possible actions. These consequences are generally those that either positively or negatively affect other living beings. If there are both good and bad actual consequences of a particular action, the moral individual must weigh the good against the bad and go with the action that will produce the most good for the most amount of people. If the individual finds that there are only bad consequences, then she must go with the behavior that causes the least amount of bad consequences to the least amount of people. There are many different methods for calculating the utility of each moral decision and coming up with the best
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.
... and also towards the wellness of all human being in general. There is not anyone watching over me or judging my moral code. However, I just feel responsible for my actions; a moral code should always be in my consciousness, and it tells me how to act in all situations. A thing to remember about these theories is that they are concerned with the greater good. Utilitarians do not care about a person personal life or whether a person actions happen to hurt some people. As long as the results of a person’s actions lead to more pleasure than pain, you are in the clear. For me, being a good person means doing good, and make good decisions. Human beings are not to be viewed as a means to an end but as ends in themselves. Utilitarianism believes that humans are to be treated with respect, but respect must take into account the everyday situations in which a person live.
Utilitarianism is a movement in ethics which began in the late eighteenth centaury and is primarily associated with the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham and was later adapted and fully developed by John Stuart Mill in the ninetieth century. . The theory states that we should try to achieve ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’. Utilitarianism is a teleological theory of ethics. Teleological theories of ethics look at the consequences to decide whether an action is right or wrong. Utilitarianism is defined as a doctrine that the useful is the good and that the determining consideration of right conduct should be the usefulness of it consequences: specifically: a theory that the aim of action should be the largest possible
Utilitarianism can be defined as: the right action is the one that produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. Utilitarians seem to believe that humans only have two desires, or motivations: happiness and pain. They want as much happiness as possible and the least amount of pain as any other action. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory, meaning that whether it is right, depends solely on its consequences.
When the theory is compared with the deontological or consequential theories, it is evident that the aim of virtue ethics is not to primarily make identification of universal principles that can only be applied in certain moral situations. On the other hand virtue ethics theories mostly deal with wider questions like, which is the best way to live?" or even "What is the meaning of good life?" and others like "What are some of the regularly considered proper family or social
Utilitarianism can be described as an ethical theory that states if the consequences of an action
It has more to do with character and the nature of what it is to be. human, than with the rights and wrongs of our actions. Instead of concentrating on what is the right thing to do, virtue ethics asks how. you can be a better person. Aristotle says that those who do lead a virtuous life, are very happy and have a sense of well-being.
Utilitarianism is defined to be “the view that right actions are those that result in the most beneficial balance of good over bad consequences for everyone involved” (Vaughn 64). In other words, for a utilitarian,