Consequentialism sets out to prove that one’s actions are morally right just because they produce the greatest amount of possibly goodness in the world. Consequentialism has two forms; one being act-utilitarianism, and the second one being rule-utilitarianism. In this paper I will explain the difference between the two forms, and will also apply these two forms to the same given scenario, and describe how the act-utilitarian will select the male patient, while the rule-utilitarian will select the female patient. Although both an act-utilitarian and a rule-utilitarian, both defend the utilitarianism main claim of us doing “what is optimific. [Meaning] we must maximize overall well-being,” (FE, 138). The main claim of each form is different. …show more content…
An act utilitarian will view the consequences of a single action, and not the consequences of the big picture. For example, they would view the consequences of a single action of stealing something, and not the principle of stealing in general. Act utilitarian will “make the rightness of an action depend on all of its results, no matter how long after the action they occur,” (FE, 123). This requires that we have moral knowledge in order to determine if our actions will be optimific, depending on the possible consequences of the action. Utilitarians make the claim that we should use actual results from an action, and not the expected results; to determine if the action is optimific. Most act-utilitarians reject using expected results, because it “does not condemn actions that are reasonably expected to be optimific. “It has two problems…first it will…require actions that turn out to have disastrous results, when other options would have produced much better outcome,” (FE, 125). However, “some actions are expected to turn out badly, but end up with surprisingly good …show more content…
Given the following scenario, that you are a doctor in an oncology ward in a major city that is strapped for financial and material resources. One evening, two patients are admitted to the hospital. One patient is suffering from a seemingly incurable form of cancer. She is an exemplary genetics researcher, who is launching a multi-year research project on malaria. You know that there is an experimental drug that you could prescribe to her that may help, but that there are significant risks to her health in trying this new medication on her. The second patient seemed to be well on his way to recovering his own bout with cancer, but this recent admission to the hospital makes his recovery less certain. You consider that he will likely recover if he receives the experimental drug and that he is unlikely to recover without the drug. He is an unsuccessful artist, has a family and regularly contributes large amounts of money to local charities. The only problem is that you have only one dose of the drug in the hospital. To obtain more doses, you would have to go through a multi-year approval process with the researchers who are testing the drug on a select group of patients. No one else has access to the experimental drug, and the researchers will not allow any new patients (besides the one that you choose) to
According to consequentialism, not deontology, the doctor should and must sacrifice that one man in order to save for others. Thus, maximizing the good. However, deontological thought contests this way of thinking by contending that it is immoral to kill the innocent despite the fact one would be maximizing the good. Deontologists create concrete distinctions between what is moral right and wrong and use their morals as a guide when making choices. Deontologists generate restrictions against maximizing the good when it interferes with moral standards.
It can be concluded that rule utilitarianism means that an act is moral permissible if such an act conforms to a moral rule that maximises utility. Rule utilitarianism dictates that one should choose saving the life of the innocent as there is a moral rule that urges us to protect the interests of children and such a moral rule leads to utility. Although, this theory is subject to numerous of criticisms, it is still quite appealing to solving the Trolley Car Problem and any other moral-ethical
... believe that if the intent of the agent's actions is to try to maximize the greater good or to create the greatest net utility possible, then it does not matter whether or not one is successful in carrying out his/her chosen act. Lastly, questions of morality and whether what one is doing in upholding the utilitarian concepts is "right" hold no ground. This is because utilitarianism clearly states that if the act in question maximizes the net utility, without causing harm or pain to all considered, the real moral question becomes, "Wouldn't you be morally wrong in not carrying out said act?"
The case under study is of the surgeon who has to decide killing of a normal, but unjust person for the sake of saving five sick people. An act utilitarian in this case would be considering every probable consequences of sacrificing the sixth normal patient while on the other hand, a rule utilitarian will possibly look for the consequences associated with performing such an operation every time a situation like thos would arise. One of the potential rules would claim that: whenever any surgeon can kill one healthy person for the basic purpose of transplanting his organs to save more than one person who actually needs them, then he can surely do it.
The utilitarian faces many problems because he loses any ability to live a personal life. By this is meant that in making decisions the utilitarian must consider the steps which lead to the highest level of goodness in society. The utilitarian reaches for the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Two main aspects dominate the light of utilitarian beliefs. The consequentialist principle explains that in determining the rightness or wrongness of an act one must examine the results that will follow. The utility principle is that you can only deem something to be good if it in itself will bring upon a specific desired state, such as happiness or fulfillment. There are two types of utilitarians: Act utilitarians and Rule utilitarians. An act utilitarian believes that a person must think things through before making a decision. The only exception to this idea applies with rules of thumb; decisions that need to be made spontaneously. The right act is the one that results in the most utility. Rule utilitarians believe that an act is only deemed appropriate if it fits in line with the outline of valid rules within a system of rules that target the most favorable outcome.
According to the book Shafer Landau an act utilitarianism is “the version of act consequentialism that says that only well-being is intrinsically valuable, and so says that an act is morally right just because it maximizes overall well-being” (Shafer Landau, G1). In the other words, it means that the act that produces the maximum of the happiness at that time than any other act. Another similar example of this act for the better understanding is, if I have a friend and being with her gives me the most happiness than being with any other friends at that time, but it does not give the same happiness to her and I am unaware about it at that time then it’s also defines as an act utilitarian. It is act utilitarian because I am still getting the most happiness at that time.
Pojman, L. (2002). 6: Utilitarianism. Ethics: discovering right and wrong (pp. 104-113). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Act-Utilitarianism is the thesis that “an act is right if and only if it results in as much good as any available alternative” (Pojman 110). One conspicuous problem with the thesis is that it suggests that correct moral actions will often clash with our intuitions about basic moral norms. For example, Pojman refers to Richard Brandt’s criticism in which he points out that the act-utilitarian seems to be committed to helping the needy above one’s own family, repaying debts only if there is no better use for the money, and ending the lives of those who are a drain on others (Pojman 110). Rule-Utilitarianism is a response to this objection and an attempt to formulate a more plausible conception of the theory. Pojman’s definition is: “An act is right if and only if it is required by a rule that is itself a member of a set of rules whose acceptance would lead to greater utility for society tha...
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
There are many essays, papers and books written on the concept of right and wrong. Philosophers have theorized about moral actions for eons, one such philosopher is John Stuart Mill. In his book Utilitarianism he tries to improve on the theories of utilitarianism from previous philosophers, as he is a strong believer himself in the theory. In Mill's book he presents the ideology that there is another branch on the utilitarian tree. This branch being called rule-utilitarianism. Mill makes a distinction between two different types of utilitarianism; act-utilitarianism and rule-utilitarianism. Rule-utilitarianism seems like a major advance over the simple theory of act-utilitarianism. But for all its added complexity, it may not actually be a significant improvement. This is proven when looking at the flaws in act-utilitarianism and relating them to the ways in which rule-utilitarianism tries to overcome them. As well one must look at the obstacles that rule-utilitarianism has on it's own as a theory. The problems of both act and rule utilitarianism consist of being too permissive and being able to justify any crime, not being able to predict the outcomes of one's actions, non-universality and the lose of freewill.
...ough its own capacity as a theory of both decision making and moral judgement, and by default- as act-utilitarianism has been proved too demanding and often immoral by our common sense intuition- I conclude that rule-utilitarianism is indeed preferable to act-utilitarianism.
Act-consequentialism is a moral theory that maintains what is right is whatever brings about the best consequences impartially considering. The main and most renowned form of act-consequentialism is act utilitarianism which advocates agents choosing the moral path that creates the greatest good for the greatest number, this being the most widely known form of act-consequentialism is the moral theory that I shall be concentrating on though out my discussion. Impartiality is the notion that everybody should count for one and nobody more than one, which is often considered to be a “double-edged sword” (Jollimore, 2017) meaning there is debate as to whether impartiality is a strength or weakness of the theory. Throughout my essay I attempt to point out an important misunderstanding made by theories that uphold impartiality as a weakness of act-consequentialism and how this could lead to the view that impartiality is in fact a strength of both act utilitarianism and act consequentialism.
Consequentialism is an ethical theory that evaluates the consequences of a person’s action to determine if their actions are right or wrong (Slote 34). According to the theory, a morally right act is one that has more good outcomes than bad ones. In this ethical theory, the end justifies the means; hence, it argues that people should first determine the good and bad consequences of actions before they do them. After determining the total outcomes, it is important to investigate whether the total good consequences are more. If the good ones outweigh the bad ones, then that action is morally right, but if it is the reverse, then the action is morally wrong.
A natural way to see whether an act is the right thing to do (or the wrong thing to do) is to look at its results, or consequences. Utilitarianism argues that, given a set of choices, the act we should choose is that which produces the best results for the greatest number affected by that choice.
People find pleasure in others pain, people can wrongfully but sincerely decide that a two-minute pleasure outweighs the stable happiness they could’ve had for the next several years, and is the satisfaction of desire what brings about true happiness? These questions and variances are real and without definite answer, yet the consequentialist assumes more than is there and ignores the ever important value of the individual’s preference towards specific pleasures and pains. However, even among the consequential community there is a heavy disagreement about just what and what not a consequentialist is to base judgments from, excluding the obvious that is it should be action-based. Act consequentialism looks at every single moral choice anew. In a situation where an extremely serious moral choice is bound to be made, individuals may well think long about the consequences of particular moral choices in this way. Such deliberate thought is hugely useful for such occurrences, but when applied to the much more trivial choices that make up the large majority or our days and weeks actually serves as a deterrent from being a decisive human and, thus leads to a less valuable life: If these act consequentialists were everywhere, individuals would feel morally obligated to research the consequences of their actions before they take them to make an