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Flaws in utilitarianism
Utilitarianism ethical criticism
Utilitarianism ethical criticism
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Absent Trust Within Utilitarianism
Evaluating decisions in terms of their morality is a complex, dense, and often times, problematic task. Utilitarianism, in which the end goal of a decision is to maximize utility, attempts to justify the morality of actions that are not always fitting to many moral standards or beliefs, but qualify because they have an end goal of maximizing one or a community’s happiness. However, the plausibility of utilitarianism is weak primarily because the model of morals which utilitarian’s follow often creates a lack of trust, which defeats the beginning purpose of utilitarianism. Furthermore, it lacks plausibility due to the fact that it is too impartial in situations that require one to make a decision in which the options cannot be held equally. Different forms of utilitarianism attempt to compensate for these objections, but in doing so either do not fully overcome them or move away for their utilitarian origins in order to do so. This is proven through examples of situations in which a utilitarian fails to do things commonly associated with being moral such as fulfilling death wishes, and through multiple questions that utilitarianism can simply not seem to answer.
Trust between humans is certainly one of the most powerful forms of dependency that exists. Often times, trust is used as a means to fulfill wishes or keep promises. As a utilitarian, one realizes that others want the peace of mind of knowing that their wishes will be fulfilled and promises kept more than anything. Because of this, the utilitarian simply gives that person the piece of mind they are in search of and then instead performs an action that increases their own utility. For example, if someone has an extremely ill relative wh...
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...are needed for ones happiness to be considered, meaning does the theory consider the happiness of babies or animals that are harder to communicate with in relation to emotions? Another issue with utilitarianism is the factor of accountability. If an action is chosen and unaccounted consequences occur, how far back does the chain of accountability go? Because of this, there is no clear solution in utilitarianism because often times, unexpected consequences do occur in which someone is needed to be held accountable for.
These arguments are not to say that that there is a problem with every cost-benefit analysis when it comes to morality because there has to be some way to decide between one action and another. That being said, however, utilitarianism simply has too many undetermined and unclear issues with their set of beliefs and processes for making decisions.
Utilitarianism is a moral theory that states that an action is considered right as long as it promotes the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. This theory was first proposed by Jeremy Bentham and later was refined by J.S Mill. Mill differs from Bentham by introducing a qualitative view on pleasure and makes a distinction between act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. John Hospers critiques utilitarianism and shows that rule utilitarianism under more specific and stricter rules would promote utility better. Bernard Williams believes that utilitarianism is too demanding from people and instead believes virtue ethics is a better solution. Williams seems to have only considered act utilitarianism instead of rule utilitarianism, which may have better responses to the problems proposed by Williams. Sterling Hardwood purposes eleven objections to utilitarianism which can be used to help make compromise between act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. I will argue that rule utilitarianism can be formed in such a way that it avoids the problems that arise from Williams, and Hardwood.
A number of classic criticisms still surround utilitarianism today, the first one concerning the calculating or quantifying of happiness, or pleasure as termed by Mill. Opponents of utilitarianism argue that the differences between people as individuals and number of uncontrollable variables in a given moral situation do not allow us to calculate the amount of happiness or pleasure that could be attained by a particular course of action. Additionally, the ability to discern consequences and the time needed to discern these consequences make the utilitarian approach to happiness impractical. In rebuttal, Mill argues that the aforementioned problems are present in any ethical theory. Only roughly estimating the consequences in a situation is necessary, according to Mill. Also, he makes claim that we do calculate the consequences of the various outcomes possible in a particular moral dilemma, whether or not we are cognoscente of doing so. In fact, in some situations, no time is in fact needed in order to act in accordance with traditional moral principles (such as love thy neighbor as thyself, do not steal/lie/murder/cheat, etc.).
The problem with Utilitarianism is not that it seeks to maximize happiness. Rather, it is that Utilitarianism is so fixated on generating the most happiness that the need to take into account the morality of the individual actions that constitute the result is essentially eradicated. In so doing, the possibility of committing unethical actions in the name of promoting the general welfare is brought about, which in turn, renders Utilitarianism an inadequate ethical
Philosophy has been a field of study for centuries. Some philosophers have developed ways to determine what is ethical and what is not. This has led to several normative ethical theories describing how people are ought to live a moral life. Some of the most prominent of these theories have set the criteria for morality in very unique and peculiar ways. Two of which are the ethical egoistic theory and the utilitarian theory, each seeing morality in its own distinctive way. By comparing and contrasting the view these theories pose on morality and by analyze how each stands in some of the world’s most modern day issues, one can understand why utilitarianism is a
The ethical theory of utilitarianism has one basis, one must chose the action that will contribute to the greatest good; the greatest good for the greatest number. In any instance one may ask, which action will make the most people happy and how long? As a method
The aim of utilitarianism in general is optimal happiness, which is the only intrinsic good according to Mill. More specifically, act and rule utilitarianism differ in the manner in which they asses what will yield the greatest amount of happiness. Often, one of the objections to utilitarianism is that it is overly demanding. However, this objection that the utilitarian view is too demanding is fitting for both forms of utilitarianism, according to the Fundamentals of Ethics. In the following, I will address why utilitarianism is habitually seen as overly demanding, and I will provide a defense of utilitarianism contrary to these objections.
Many traditions and values of the American society are beneficial, but some are harmful. Acceptance of utilitarianism will preserve beneficial traditions while replacing the harmful ones. As a result, new traditions, grounded in reason, will emerge, and future generations may wonder how the irrational and unnatural non-utilitarian values had survived for so long.
In Utilitarianism the aim of our actions is to achieve happiness for the greatest number of people. “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” (Mill, 1971). Utilitarianism directly appeals to human emotions and our reactions to different events. Emotions are a fundamental Way of Knowing and influence both ethical and economical theories. In most cultures there are fundame...
Pojman, L. (2002). 6: Utilitarianism. Ethics: discovering right and wrong (pp. 104-113). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
One of the major players in ethical theories has long been the concept of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism states that in general the ethical rightness or wrongness of an action is directly related to the utility of that action. Utility is more specifically defined as a measure of the goodness or badness of the consequences of an action (see quote by Mill above). For the purposes of this paper, Utility will be considered to be the tendency to produce happiness. There are two types of Utilitarianism; these are “act” and “rule”. An act utilitarian uses thought processes associated with utilitarianism (i.e. the principle of utility) to make all decisions, this requires a lot of thought and careful calculation. For example, an act utilitarian deciding from a list of possible day trips would sit down and calculate out the utility of each possible decision before coming to a conclusion as to which one was preferable. Contrary to an act utilitarian, a rule utilitarian uses the principles of utility to create a set of rules by which they live. Rule utilitarians are not incapable of calculating a decision; they just do not see a need to do it all the time. For example, a rule utilitarian might have some rules like this: in general do not kill, in general do not steal, in general do not lie; but if they found a situation that might except the rule they would do the cal...
Classical utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory which holds that an action can only be considered as morally right where its consequences bring about the greatest amount of good to the greatest number (where 'good' is equal to pleasure minus pain). Likewise, an action is morally wrong where it fails to maximise good. Since it was first articulated in the late 19th Century by the likes of Jeremy Bentham and later John Stewart Mill, the classical approach to utilitarianism has since become the basis for many other consequentialist theories such as rule-utilitarianism and act-utilitarianism upon which this essay will focus (Driver, 2009). Though birthed from the same utilitarian principle of maximising good, rule-utilitarianism and act-utilitarianism provide two very different accounts on how the maximising of good should be approached. This essay will compare these two approaches and try to ascertain whether rule-utilitarianism is indeed preferable to act-utilitarianism.
In its political philosophy utilitarianism provides an alternative to theories of natural law and the social contract by basing the authority of government and the sanctity of individual rights upon their utility, or measure of happiness gained. As an egalitarian doctrine, where everyone’s happiness counts equally, the rational, relatively straightforward nature of utilitarianism offers an attractive model for democratic government. It offers practical methods for deciding the morally right course of action - “...an action is right as it tends to promote happiness, wrong as it tends to diminish it, for the party whose interests are in question” (Bentham, 1780). To discover what we should do in a given situation, we identify the various courses of action that we could take, then determine any foreseeable benefits and harms to all affected by the ramifications of our decision. In fact, some of the early pioneers of utilitarianism, such as Bentham and Mill, campaigned for equality in terms of women's suffrage, decriminalization of homosexuality, and abolition of slavery (Boralevi, 1984). Utilitarianism seems to support democracy as one could interpret governments working to promote the public interest and welfare of citizens as striving for liberty for the greatest amount of people. While utilitarianism at its heart is a theory that calls for progressive social change through peaceful political processes, there are some difficulties in relying on it as the sole method for moral decision-making. In this essay I will assess the effectiveness of utilitarianism as a philosophy of government by examining the arguments against it.
Two ideologies that exist in ethics and apply to decision-making are utilitarian and deontological viewpoints. Ethical theories provide a systematic approach to decision-making toward the applications of standard principles. “In utilitarian ethics, outcomes justify the means or ways to achieve it” (Mandal, Ponnambath, & Parija, 2016, p. 5). Decisions made considering utility are based benefitting the greatest number of people. In utilitarianism, outcomes determine the moral nature of interventions. Some people are to experience harm, but the overall outcome is good for most individuals. Applying utilitarianism personally or professionally seems relevant when considering its ideology maximizes happiness and minimizes suffering. Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is one of the most commonly used ethical theories from the time it was formulated by Jeremy Bentham and John Stewart Mill in the nineteenth century. In his work, Utilitarianism, Bentham “sought to dispel misconceptions that morality has nothing to do with usefulness or utility or that morality is opposed to pleasure” (MacKinnon, 2012, p. 53). To simplify the utilitarian principle, which is one of utility, one can surmise that morality is equated with the greatest amount of utility or good for the greatest number of people (MacKinnon, 2012). Also, with its orientation to the “end or goal of actions” (MacKinnon, 2012, p. 54), Utilitarianism thus, espouses the consequentialist principle, e.g., the evaluation of any human
In light of the explanations above it can be argued that in utilitarian approach there are different kind of challenges which posing serious threat to utilitarianism in a direction to achieve greatest happiness principles. First of all, utilitarian approach is a problematic from point of demanding issue because theory contradicts within itself about motives of our actions and criterion about it. Second challenge about utilitarianism is that the approach missed the analyze the real world conditions about personal experiences and cultural differences about experience. Third questionable idea about utilitarian school is that it has consequentialist points of view which may damage societal welfare and overall happiness because of personal expediency issue.