Ethical Theories Of Utilitarianism

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Of the Ethical theories, Utilitarianism is the strongest because it utilizes empathy in the search for eliminating suffering, is not absolutist, and does not defer to God’s will.

Utilitarianism was first formulated by Epicurus in his ethical philosophy of Epicureanism, and then further elaborated on later by some of his Contemporaries such as: Frances Hutcheson, David Hume, Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill. These Ethical Theorists focused on the idea of having the law serve human interests, rather than having humans serve the law’s interest. Louis Pojman describes Utilitarianism as the following in his book How Should We Live?: “The theory that the right action is one that maximizes utility…. Its motto, which characterizes one version of utilitarianism, is …show more content…

It is, then, the total utility of individuals which is important here, the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people”. According to Pojman, Utilitarianism can be further broken down into two types of Utilitarianism: Act Utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism. Act Utilitarianism as defined by Pojman is: “An Act is right only if and if it results in as much good as any available alternative,” and further elaborates that: “…. we ought to apply the principle to all of the alternatives open to us at any given moment,” (Pojman, 115). Pojman says the following about Rule Utilitarianism: “An act is right if and only if it is required by a rule that itself a member of a set of rules whose acceptance would lead to greater utility for society than any available alternative,” and further that: “…an act is right if it conforms to a valid rule within a system of rules that, if followed, will result in the best possible state of affairs (or the least bad state of affairs, if it is a question of all the alternatives

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