What Is The Consequentialist Principle And The Utility Principle

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Utilitarians are people who believe that good is everyone’s pleasure. This is simply what they call general happiness. They believe that happiness is primarily pleasure and the absence of pain. Utilitarians think actions that give most pleasure to a larger quantity of people is morally right. Their two basic view consist of believing that we should nurture everyone’s happiness and not just one’s own, and accepting that some pleasures are bigger than others. Act and Rule Utilitarianism is based on two principles called the Consequentialist Principle and the Utility Principle. The Consequentialist Principle pretty much determines what actions are right from wrong. When determining this, actions are judged based off of the consequences. They believe the right actions will have the best outcomes. This principle does not take …show more content…

These people tend to look at the consequences from a larger spectrum. They think act utilitarians apply utility in the wrong way. They think rules of conduct should be included and that they should stimulate general utility. Act utilitarians believe something morally right will result in greater happiness than alternative rules. For example, if society was to adopt a rule where killing was acceptable then there would be far more unhappy people than happy people. Everyone would be terrified because they know they could be killed at any time. More people are happy that killing is against the law and morally wrong so that they do not have to live in fear. Since more people are happy that killing is not morally right, then they view that killing is not acceptable regardless of any circumstances. Rule utilitarianism is typically closer to the views we have today. It does not allow certain actions to take place in situations just because it may be convenient at the time. They look at the bigger picture, making it closer to moral standards we have in our world

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