In the realm of moral ethics, happiness is a key principle towards a self-fulfilling life. Inspired by the foundation of ethics since the days of Ancient philosopher such as Aristotle, Utilitarianism began at the rise of prominent British 19th-century thinkers of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Both thinkers of classical utilitarianism divide Utilitarianism analyzed today by as Act and Rule Utilitarianism. In short, Utilitarianism is subjected to its morality to be based of pleasure over pain principles as their unhappiness and happiness scale defined as “Greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.”1 An Utilitarian decisions are similar to that of Consequentialism that actions are “judged solely on consequences and does not matter …show more content…
P. The Philosophy of J.S. Mill. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986. 18
Frey, 530.
Anschutz, 18
Frey, 530.
Lyons, D.. Forms and Limits of Utilitarianism. Oxford. Oxford University Press.1965.
Ibid.
Frey, 532.
Ibid., 531.
Ibid., 533.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Bibliography
Albbe, Ernest. A History of English Utilitarianism. New York: Collier Books., 1962
Anschutz, R. P. The Philosophy of J.S. Mill. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986.
Bentham, J. (1789). An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Edited by. J Harrison.. Oxford: Blackwell, 1948
Frey, R.G."Utilitarianism." The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Thought. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1991. 530-33.
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Hooder, A.L. 1892 “Utilitarianism.”International Journal of Ethics. Vol 3. No.1(October): 90-112. Accessed November 16, 2017. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2375469.
Lyons, D. Forms and Limits of Utilitarianism. Oxford. Oxford University Press.1965.
Monro, D.H."Utilitarianism." Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Vol. IV. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973. 444-49.
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Mill, John Stuart. “Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill.” Utilitarianism: past, present and future. http://www.utilitarianism.com/mill2.htm (accessed December 05, 2011).
The democracy of the United States today is deeply intertwined with a utilitarian mindset. The ideals formed by the many thinkers/writers of the 18h-19th century can still be seen as prevalent in today’s society. The enlightened philosophes of the 17th-18th century had paved the way for a new form of political system. The idea of utilitarianism was preached by a number of prestigious writers, including John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, and the United States own John Adams. This school of thought made its way to the United States early in the nation’s history and is deeply rooted within the origins of our great country.
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
In Utilitarianism, J.S. Mill gives an account for the reasons one must abide by the principles of Utilitarianism. Also referred to as the Greatest-happiness Principle, this doctrine promotes the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people. More specifically, Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism, holding that the right act is that which yields the greatest net utility, or "the total amount of pleasure minus the total amount of pain", for all individuals affected by said act (Joyce, lecture notes from 03/30).
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.
Mill, John Stuart. "Utilitarianism." Gendler, Tamar Szabo, Susanna Siegel and Steven M. Cahn. The Elements of Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. 77-80.
Cahn, Steven M., and Peter J. Markie. "John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism; Chapter 2: What Utilitarianism Is." 2009. Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues. 4th ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. 330-41. Print.
Nielsen, Kai. “Traditional Morality and Utilitarianism.” Ethics: The Big Questions. Ed. James Sterba. Blackwell Publishers, 1998. 142-151.
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Pojman, L. (2002). 6: Utilitarianism. Ethics: discovering right and wrong (pp. 104-113). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Jeremy Bentham is widely regarded as the father of utilitarianism. He was born in 1748 into a family of lawyers and was himself, training to join the profession. During this process however, he became disillusioned by the state British law was in and set out to reform the system into a perfect one based on the ‘Greatest Happiness Principle,’ ‘the idea that pleasurable consequences are what qualify an action as being morally good’. Bentham observed that we are all governed by pain and pleasure; we all naturally aim to seek pleasure and avoid pain. He then decided that the best moral principle for governing our lives is one which uses this, the ‘Greatest Happiness Principle.’ This is that the amount of overall happiness or unhappiness that is caused by an action should determine whether an action is right or wrong. He stated,
Driver, J. 2009. The History of Utilitarianism. [online] Available at: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/#JerBen [Accessed: 14 Mar 2014].
For the purposes of brevity I will refer mainly to Bentham's and Mill's definitions of utilitarianism. In ...
J.S. Mill, 'What Utilitarianism Is' from Peter Y. Windt, An Introduction to Philosophy: Ideas in Conflict, St Paul, MN: West Publishing, 1982.
Utilitarianism is a movement in ethics which began in the late eighteenth centaury and is primarily associated with the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham and was later adapted and fully developed by John Stuart Mill in the ninetieth century. . The theory states that we should try to achieve ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’. Utilitarianism is a teleological theory of ethics. Teleological theories of ethics look at the consequences to decide whether an action is right or wrong. Utilitarianism is defined as a doctrine that the useful is the good and that the determining consideration of right conduct should be the usefulness of it consequences: specifically: a theory that the aim of action should be the largest possible