Pros of Utilitarianism. 964 Words4 Pages. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Copyright 2023 IPL.org All rights reserved. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others. Provides a framework for fair and just decision-making. An extreme and primitive example, 3. Non Consequentialist moral theories or Deontological theories, consider not the consequences of an action but whether they fulfill a duty. Results-based ethics plays a very large part in everyday life because it is simple and appeals to common sense: Act consequentialism looks at every single moral choice anew. For example when faced with a difficult situation in your life, you can use ethical theories to assist you in making the right decision. Thus, Utilitarianism is a theory that can easily help us reach decisions. For a summary of consequentialist ethics check out the videos below: Our next stop in our tour of the ethical lay of the land is utilitarianism. To demonstrate this I will use an adapted version of John Harris Survival Lottery thought experiment (this thought experiment is a theoretical example used to highlight the objection and is not to be taken literally): Let us imagine we have five patients who require organ transplants. Finally, Mill also claims that happiness is the only thing that is desirable in itself as an end. What does this say about the theory? . No one desires the strife of war in life, but it is sometimes necessary and morally justified to engage in war. for this article. Whether an act is right or wrong depends only on the results of that act, The more good consequences an act produces, the better or more right that act, A person should choose the action that maximises good consequences, People should live so as to maximise good consequences. lead to many bad ideas. Consequentialism is the view that morality is all about producing the right kinds of overall consequences. This is the argument between moral principlists [1], and moral particularists. Utilitarianism is a moral philosophy that advocates for the maximization of happiness and pleasure. Whenever we are faced with a decision, an act consequentialist will expect us to ask that question. In the racial minority case, while removing the minority might lead to better consequences in the short term, it will lead to worse consequences in the long term. Content may require purchase if you do not have access. Relating this to the case of George, Georges actions can be judged on whether they will lead to better consequences. 9 An essentially contested concept is one concerning which there is no agreement even about what is to count as a central or paradigm instance of it. According to consequentialism, you should always strive to bring about good consequences, rather than simply obeying an arbitrary set of ethical rules. You see, by appealing to actions that produce a benefit, the . hasContentIssue true, Copyright The Royal Institute of Philosophy 1981, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031819100050543, Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. It is for these reasons that Utilitarianism is a problematic moral theory. When a person is going to make a moral decision based on consequentialism, he or she first look at the good and bad possible consequences of the action, then determine whether the total good consequences outweigh the total bad. There are rewards if you do something good, and there are repercussions if you do something wrong. how do you measure any 'subjective' quality? Decent Essays. They can generate profit by creating goods and services for societal needs to gain personal benefits as the government doesn't have a regulatory role. night at an orgy makes a whole lot of sense. % It teaches: Rule consequentialism bases moral rules on their consequences. For instance, most people would agree that lying is wrong. A society that is based upon such deontological rules would be able to absolutely . ), Public and Private Morality (Cambridge University Press, 1978). By asking us to maximise benefit for the largest number of people (or, for Peter Singer and other preference utilitarians, creatures who have preferences), we set aside our personal biases and self-interest to benefit others. This basic form of consequentialism holds an action as ethical if and only if it produces more beneficial/pleasure-causing outcomes than negative/pain-causing ones. . Consequentialism has both practical and philosophical problems: And these are things that many think are relevant to ethical judgements. This double edged sword leaves the quantitative method unable to deal with questions that require specific feedback, and often lacks a human element. 3. Advantages. Consequentialism is a type of teleological theory -- consequentialist theories suggest that the moral value, the moral rightness or wrongness of an act, is entirely a function of the consequences, or the results of that act. On the next ward is Patient A who has a curable disease and also is a suitable donor for the other patients. The idea here is this: sometimes, in working to achieve the greatest overall consequences, individuals will be forced to do bad things, and these bad things, even if they increase happiness, are still bad. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. (Fontana), 270. But as previously stated, war and the strife and chaos that comes with it are undesirable; however, in this particular circumstance something that may be bad as war can be said to be a for a good cause. Negative consequentialism is the inverse of ordinary consequentialism. It also detracts from the value of individuals and their own interests and projects, other than when those are in line with the interests of the group. Utilitarianism will tell us that George should disregard their interests and feelings and perform that action that will increase the consequences. Promotes the greatest happiness for the most significant number of people. and since my behaviour is based on my assessment of the consequences, should the rightness or wrongness of an act be assessed on what I thought was going to happen or what actually happened? Who makes the plaid blue coat Jesse stone wears in Sea Change. Encourages ethical decision-making based on empirical evidence and reason. Answer 2: 1) Consequentialism, it says that an action can be judged as ethical or unethical based on the consequences it creates, practices which bring in a person cannot predict consequences beforehand, an art which could be gained with experience. While Utilitarians will count this as a strength of their theory, it can also be considered a weakness of the theory. Render date: 2023-03-01T13:52:53.682Z See Kovesi's, Julius book Moral Notions (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967).Google Scholar. Download Citation | Rule Utilitarianism and Rational Acceptance | This article presents a rule-utilitarian theory which lies much closer to the social contract tradition than most other forms of . He should not favour his or his familys interests as opposed to the interests of others who might be impacted by chemical and biological warfare. In response to this, a Utilitarian might adopt a rule, the general following of which will lead to better long-term consequences. The Terri Schiavo case was a huge start of the Right to Die movement, the underlying cause of Schiavos collapse was never given a diagnosis. Encourages individual responsibility and accountability. Instead they use ethical rules that are derived from considering the general consequences of particular types of acts. When making a decision, one is to take a Gods eye view of things, and consider everyone equally. While these reasons might be noble ones, we cannot be clear on whether these are actually the motives/reasons that George has. Certainly, the use of utilitarian ethics in medical contexts is not without controversy and this is something which we shall next by looking at a well-known objection to utilitarianism using a thought experiment: The objection is that by only focusing on objectively promoting the greatest good, utilitarians can permit and indeed claim that certain actions, which appear morally wrong, are in fact the right action. Adopting rule-utilitarianism as a way to respond to these objections seems not only ad-hoc, but also inconsistent with the Utilitarian maxim of increasing the consequences. Utilitarianism is a highly acclaimed theory that is morally based on consequentialism. 1 Extreme and Restricted Utilitarianism, Philosophical Quarterly 6 (1956), 3445. An example of this would be pharmaceutical companies raising the cost for medicine, this cause many patients to suffer or not be able to afford the medication they need. } From a hedonist's point of view Results-based ethics produces this important conclusion for ethical thinking: This far-fetched example may make things clearer: The classic form of results-based ethics is called utilitarianism. The consequences are of greater priority than the act itself. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy gives a plain and simple definition of consequentialism: Of all the things a person might do at any given moment, the morally right action is the one with the best overall consequences. In an ideal world you will be, A current ethical debate in the world of healthcare is Savior siblings. Abstract. However, in support of consequentialism it might be argued that many of the things listed above do influence the good or bad consequences of an act, particularly when formulating ethical rules, and so they become incorporated in consequentialist ethical thinking; but only through the back door, not directly. Other forms of consequentialism take a more subtle approach; for example stating that people should maximise the satisfaction of their fully informed and rational preferences. Although we have sent astronauts to the moon multiple times, the top speeds for planetary transportation max out at 2,200 mph. Some may refer to the principle of utility as the greatest happiness principle. Devine, Philip E. in The Conscious Acceptance of Guilt in the Necessary Murder, Ethics 89, No. Consider another example from Williams. On the other point of view, it has been suggested that the world should derive an objective truth in every action. In this case, his action will lead to good consequences, albeit indirectly. This minority does not harm anyone else in the society, nor does it do anything particularly good either. Photo: Liz Fagoli, We cannot predict every outcome of an event. Simple forms of consequentialism say that the best action is the one that produces the largest total of happiness. Non Consequentialist Theories A Non Consequentialist Ethical Theory is a general normative theory of morality Non consequentialist (or deontological ) theories those that determine the moral rightness or wrongness of an action based on the action's intrinsic features or character not on its consequences Deontological (duty . Advantages and Disadvantages . The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. It was a good Its chief virtue as a position seems to be that it permits materialists to explain human, ethical behavior entirely in terms of social interaction; no external source of morality appea. Consequentialism is the belief that the outcomes of actions, the consequences of certain normative properties decide the rightness or . It will, for example, weaken the trust among members of a community, and destabilize the social relations of individuals within that community. Like any other theory, Utilitarianism has its advantages and disadvantages. It involves in practical reasoning: good, right, duty, obligation, virtue, freedom, rationality, and choice. 16 See, e.g., Williams, Bernard, Ethical Consistency, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Suppl. Perhaps the biggest strength of Utilitarianism is that it is, at least prima facie, easier to reach a conclusion under this theory than other theories. For example, if you think that the whole point of morality is (a) to spread happiness and relieve suffering, or . Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are. So, for example, according to rule consequentialism we consider lying to be wrong because we know that in general lying produces bad consequences. Consequentialist means the consequences that will result after whatever you do, whether it is the right or wrong thing to do. Open Document. Although there are references to this idea in the works of ancient philosopherEpicurus, its closely associated with English philosopherJeremy Bentham. how, for example, do you measure happiness? Let us take the example of a minority being oppressed in a country. The Advantages & Disadvantages of Ethical Reasoning. Perhaps the main advantage of incrementalism is its efficiency compared to more rigidly structured methods of policymaking. Mill viewed the greatest happiness principle as the cornerstone of morals, he, On the other hand, Utilitarianism, a consequentialist theory, stems from the idea that every morally correct action will produce the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people. Type. John Stuart Mill, a student of Benthams, disagreed. 4 See, e.g., Beardsmore, R. W. 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