We live in an imperfect world where things can inevitably go wrong although our actions meant well. Ethical actions should not be judged by a good outcome rather by a good will. Ethics are principles of right and wrong that guide a body of professionals on how to conduct their duties. In this paper good will is explained as an act of kindness towards oneself. This essay will explore the deontological moral theory by Kant in relation to utilitarianism by Mill.
Humans perform actions with an intention of achieving some kind of satisfaction that one can refer to as trying attain a feel of happiness. Thus require one to perform an action and for every action there is a reaction, which interns lead to consequences. When consequences are involved
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Not only will you find happiness in doing something out of love but also you will enjoy the pleasure it brings with it. Knowing that your actions are moral and have contributed to someone else’s happiness as well. In Utilitarianism follows that happiness is the only desirable ending to actions that one performed. Mill argued that humans perform actions because they will find pleasure and happiness from the results when they are good. Which introduce the questions about morals and …show more content…
According to Kant “the moral worth of an action does not depend on the result expected from it, and so too does not depend on any principle of action that needs to be borrowed its motive from this expected result.” No matter how good an action is we can never please everyone. There will always be those that feel that even the ethics aren’t working in their favour even though they are meant to be guide to us towards good, which in turn is supposedly a lead to happiness. What is moral is ones eyes is not necessarily to world as whole, it however solely depends with the society in which we are raised. Our morals are shaped and imprinted by those who raise us and those who influence our lives as we grow. The actions we part take depend on how we are molded and the end results are the reflection of temperament that makes us who we
Mill grew up under the influences from his father and Bentham. In his twenties, an indication of the cerebral approach of the early Utilitarians led to Mill’s nervous breakdown. He was influential in the growth of the moral theory of Utilitarianism whose goal was to maximize the personal freedom and happiness of every individual. Mill's principle of utility is that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness”. Utilitarianism is the concept that a man should judge everything based on the ability to promote happiness for the greatest number of individual. He believes that Utilitarianism must show how the conversion can be made from an interest in one’s own particular bliss to that of others. John Stuart Mill also states that moral action should not be judged on the individual case but more along the lines of “rule of thumb” and says that individuals ought to measure the outcomes and settle on their choices in view of the consequence and result that advantages the most people. Mill believes that pleasure is the only wanted consequence. Mill supposes that people are gifted with the capacity for conscious thought, and they are not happy with physical delights, but rather endeavor to accomplish the joy of the psyche too. He asserts that individuals want pleasure and reject
Kant and Mill both try to decide whether the process of doing something is distinguished as right or wrong. They explain that right or wrong is described as moral or immoral. In the writings of Grounding for the Metaphysics of morals Kant says that you only need to “act only according to the maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” (Kant, 30). Kant then states that a practical principal for how far the human will is concerned is thereby a categorical imperative, that everyone then is necessarily an end, and the end in itself establishes an objective principal of the will and can aid as a practical law (36). Mill on the other hand has the outlook that the greatest happiness principle, or utilitarianism, is that happiness and pleasure are the freedom from pain (Mill, 186). With these principles we will see that Kant and Mill correspond and contradict each other in their moral theories.
Mill made a distinction between happiness and sheer sensual pleasure. He defines happiness in terms of higher order pleasure (i.e. social enjoyments, intellectual). In his Utilitarianism (1861), Mill described this principle as follows:According to the Greatest Happiness Principle … The ultimate end, end, with reference to and for the sake of which all other things are desirable (whether we are considering our own good or that of other people), is an existence exempt as far as possible from pain, and as rich as possible enjoyments.Therefore, based on this statement, three ideas may be identified: (1) The goodness of an act may be determined by the consequences of that act. (2) Consequences are determined by the amount of happiness or unhappiness caused. (3) A "good" man is one who considers the other man's pleasure (or pain) as equally as his own.
Mill’s Utilitarianism varies from the most general form of utilitarianism, which claims that one should assess persons, actions, and institutions by how well they promote humans’ happiness. Mill branches off of this basic explanation by interpreting the misconceptions of utilitarianism into utility. This utility is something in opposition to pleasure. In order words, mill utilitarianism utility is the greatest happiness principle.
Immanuel Kant is a popular modern day philosopher. He was a modest and humble man of his time. He never left his hometown, never married and never strayed from his schedule. Kant may come off as boring, while he was an introvert but he had a great amount to offer. His thoughts and concepts from the 1700s are still observed today. His most recognized work is from the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Here Kant expresses his idea of ‘The Good Will’ and the ‘Categorical Imperative’.
First, I will discuss Mill’s principles and the requirements of his type of utilitarian ethics. Mill’s utilitarian principle can also be known as the “Greatest Happiness Principle”, which states that an action is good as long as it creates happiness. Mill sums up his principle by saying, “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” Mill argues that everyone desires his or her own happiness and thinks that happiness is the one main goal of all humans. However, just because one person desires his happiness doesn’t mean that this one person’s happiness will contribute to the overall society’s happiness. For example, if a person finds happiness in killing innocent people then this is obviously not contributing to the overall happiness of society. Sure, this may make the killer happy, but the families of the victim and society would be deeply angered and saddened from this occurrence. One of the main factors of Mill’s principle is that an action is good as long is it promotes more happiness than pain for society not just for one individual. It is the net happiness that Mill is concerned with rather than just the sole amount of happiness. As long as an action constitutes greater happiness than pain then Mill would deem this action good or moral...
In utilitarianism John Stuart Mill introduced the idea of pleasures. All people seek to satisfy their desires, needs and happiness that mean prolonged and continuous pleasure. While utilitarianism is a theory directed against egoism which is opposes to the satisfaction of personal interest. The allowance of pleasure in every situation is determined by whether people contribute to the achievement of a higher purpose or general happiness. Morality is defined by Mill as rule by leading a man in his actions, through the observaing of which is delivered to all mankind the existence of the most free from suffering and intense pleasures.
Mill claims that happiness is the ultimate good and the ultimate end of human being. According to me human being is applying this principle in his everyday life. By trying to attain our own happiness, we deal with situations where the happiness of others has to been taken into account. Thus, by applying the “rule utilitarianism” and taking into examples the previous situations others may have face, we can really improve our life and may be find a basis for the foundation of morality.
Ethics can be defined as "the conscious reflection on our moral beliefs with the aim of improving, extending or refining those beliefs in some way." (Dodds, Lecture 2) Kantian moral theory and Utilitarianism are two theories that attempt to answer the ethical nature of human beings. This paper will attempt to explain how and why Kantian moral theory and Utilitarianism differ as well as discuss why I believe Kant's theory provides a more plausible account of ethics.
John Stuart Mill claims that people often misinterpret utility as the test for right and wrong. This definition of utility restricts the term and denounces its meaning to being opposed to pleasure. Mill defines utility as units of happiness caused by an action without the unhappiness caused by an action. He calls this the Greatest Happiness Principle or the Principle of Utility. Mill’s principle states that actions are right when they tend to promote happiness and are wrong when they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. Happiness is defined as intended pleasure and the absence of pain while unhappiness is defined as pain and the lack of pleasure. Therefore, Mill claims, pleasure and happiness are the only things desirable and good. Mill’s definition of utilitarianism claims that act...
Kant explores the good will which acts for duty’s sake, or the sole unconditional good. A good will is not good because of any proposed end, or because of what it accomplishes, but it is only good in itself. The good will that is good without qualification contains both the means and the end in itself.
Deontology is the ethical view that some actions are morally forbidden or permitted regardless of consequences. One of the most influential deontological philosophers in history is Immanuel Kant who developed the idea of the Categorical Imperative. Kant believed that the only thing of intrinsic moral worth is a good will. Kant says in his work Morality and Rationality “The good will is not good because of what it affects or accomplishes or because of it’s adequacy to achieve some proposed end; it is good only because of it’s willing, i.e., it is good of itself”. A maxim is the generalized rule that characterizes the motives for a person’s actions. For Kant, a will that is good is one that is acting by the maxim of doing the right thing because it is right thing to do. The moral worth of an action is determined by whether or not it was acted upon out of respect for the moral law, or the Categorical Imperative. Imperatives in general imply something we ought to do however there is a distinction between categorical imperatives and hypothetical imperatives. Hypothetical imperatives are obligatory so long as we desire X. If we desire X we ought to do Y. However, categorical imperatives are not subject to conditions. The Categorical Imperative is universally binding to all rational creatures because they are rational. Kant proposes three formulations the Categorical Imperative in his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Moral, the Universal Law formulation, Humanity or End in Itself formulation, and Kingdom of Ends formulation. In this essay, the viablity of the Universal Law formulation is tested by discussing two objections to it, mainly the idea that the moral laws are too absolute and the existence of false positives and false negatives.
Coming from a military background, it is not surprising that I find Kantianism as the preferred method of ethics. In my experience, I find that right and wrong, as absolute truths, are existent and necessary to guide the morality of society. While Utilitarianism has promising overtones, I feel that it allows room and almost promotes relativism, which is not a supported social philosophy. Although Utilitarianism places the categorical imperative on the happiness of the larger population, Kantianism places the morality upon each individual by claiming that all things should be done from the "good will" of the individual. In this essay, the societal philosophies of Kantianism and Utilitarianism will be compared and show that the individual morality,
Both Kantian and virtue ethicists have differing views about what it takes to be a good person. Kantian ethicists believe that being a good person is strictly a matter of them having a “good will.” On the other hand, virtue ethicists believe that being a good person is a matter of having a good character, or being naturally inclined to do the right thing. Both sides provide valid arguments as to what is the most important when it comes to determining what a person good. My purpose in writing this paper is to distinguish between Kantian ethics and virtue ethics, and to then, show which theory is most accurate.
...attainment of happiness is oftentimes difficult, so we are morally justified in searching to essentially reduce the amount of unhappiness and pain experienced by the human beings impacted by some of our actions. According to Mill, the absence of pleasure is only acceptable when it is for the greater good of humanity.