Utilitarianism - Morality Essay Example for Free

Utilitarianism Morality Essay The use of utilitarianism when making moral decisions leads to an injustice society, evaluate this claim. The use of utilitarianism is a controversial subject for many people, some believe by using it, it can bring happiness to the majority of society, others say by using utilitarianism it can take away peoples own judgment making our society unjust. Strengths of Bentham’s theory begin with the fact that utilitarianism offers a relatively straightforward method for deciding the morally right course of action for any particular situation we may find ourselves in. Utilitarianism treats everyone the same, no one gets special treatment due to their emotional or social attachments, and Bentham wanted us to strive for happiness, his principle of utility states the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people. In order to make sure we follow this statement Bentham devised the hedonic calculus as a way of measuring happiness; this name was chosen based on its Greek meaning of pleasure. For many people happiness is an important aspect of decision making as it is their main aim in life, the Hedonic calculus assists us in our moral decision making because it covers all the aspects of happiness for not one but all, the outcome is not bias and takes everyone’s feelings into account, by having happiness as a basis behind how we make decisions it allows us to adopt a flexible relativistic approach to each situation, aiming for the greatest happiness for the greatest number is discourages selfishness which then leads to a better society due to everyone being fair and reasonable. Mel Thompson agreed with Bentham, he said that Act utilitarianism appears to be simple to follow, just aim to achieve the greatest happiness for the greatest number†. The positive and negative consequences of our actions can be measured. This gives us an objective, independent way of deciding on what is right and wrong. Utilitarianism doesn’t rely on specific beliefs about God; this is helpful to all religious people and the growing number of atheists in our society. Utilitarianism is straight forward and based on the principle of minimising pain and maximising pleasure and happiness, it does not take into account religion, meaning the outcome may be more fair, some religious people have prejudices towards certain minorities meaning that women or homosexuals may be victimised, people who are religious may choose to do something because the bible says it, for example the slave trade was in the bible, but if they had used the hedonic calculus instead of the bible then it wouldn’t of happened, furthermore is would of lead to a just society, another example would be if someone was racist and was about to make a decision about a black person using their mind then the outcome would be unjust, but if they used the hedonic calculus it would lead to justice because the hedonic calculus does not take personal views into account. There are also many weaknesses to Bentham’s theory starting with the idea that some things are unpredictable and we should not base our ethical choices on something that may or may not happen. Utilitarianism has a different strategy when it comes to justice, our normal idea of justice would relate to everyone being treated fairly, utilitarianism allows some people to be sacrificed for the greater good, some people would argue that this in unfair and leads to an unjust society. One of the main weaknesses of Benthams version of Utilitarianism is that there is the potential to justify any act. This is because Benthams version is based, yes on the consequences of an action, but on the pleasure gained from an action. For example, if seven men were walking down an alley and stabbed a girl to death, then according to Benthams device The Hedonic Calculus the amount of the mens pleasure would completely outweigh the amount of the womans pain, and would therefore make the action of killing the women morally right. If you get rid of rules and allow people to choose to act in the greater good, they will actually act selfishly, and then try to justify their actions by claiming they were in the greater good, this would also lead to an unjust society because people would and argue that they were trying to follow the hedonic calculus. Imagine someone killed one healthy person and gave their organs to save 5 others. The balance of happiness over harm supports doing this according to the hedonic calculus, but we know that it is not right, Another argument against utilitarianism would be the idea of happiness and how it differs depending on the individual, happiness is not the same for everyone, one person’s happiness could be meaningless to another, this flaws utilitarianism due to the idea that it predicts that everyone’s idea of happiness is the same. Utilitarianism ignores the motives of actions, so long as the end is good, sexually this could mean that immoral means could be taken to obtain pleasure, so long as the pleasure outweighs any pain. In conclusion all the information shows that utilitarianism can help many people in the situations they may face throughout their life, but altogether does lead to injustice with in society, this is because utilitarianism assumes you can know the definite answer to every decision you make, this would be impossible for any human to achieve, the information leads to a conclusion that can justify evil acts, for example, if eight prison guards find a sense of happiness from beating the prisoners, then their acts of evil will be overlooked if someone was basing their decision on the hedonic calculus because in theory the happiness of the guards will out way the prisoners.

Although the authors us fictitious characters and events, novels are :: English Literature

Although the authors us fictitious characters and events, novels are often surprisingly accurate portraits of their time Although the authors us fictitious characters and events, novels are often surprisingly accurate portraits of their time. To what extent do you think The Great Gatsby is a novel of this type? The Great Gatsby, written in the early 1920’s, by F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays the type of high class life the rich were living during this time. Extravagance was the key to everything, parties, drinking, cars, relationships, and life. Everybody seemed to have money. This time was known as â€Å"The Roaring 20’s†, or â€Å"The Golden 20’s.† We see this type of culture in its extremity in The Great Gatsby. We can also assume that it was this type of life that Fitzgerald himself led. He was born into a fairly well-to-do family. In 1896 he attended, but never graduated from, Princeton University. It was here he mingled with the moneyed classes from the Eastern Seaboard who created an obsession for the rest of his life. In 1917 he was drafted into the army, but he never saw active service abroad. He married the beautiful Zelda Sayre and together they embarked on a rich life of endless parties. Dividing their time between America and fashionable resorts in Europe, the Fitzgerald’s’ became as famous for their lifestyle as for the novels he wrote. â€Å"Sometimes I don't know whether Zelda and I are real or whether we are characters in one of my novels†, which he wrote to pay for his extravagant lifestyle. We can see just how similar Gatsby and Fitzgerald are. Gatsby, unlike Fitzgerald was born into a fairly poor family, but soon met Dan Cody and Daisy, who, both very rich led him to the obsession to also become rich. I believe it was mainly the influence of daisy for this. He was desperately in love with her, but stood no chance all the while he had no money. †She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me.† Also like Fitzgerald, Gatsby went to University and never finished. â€Å"It was in nineteen – nineteen, I only stayed five months. That’s why I can’t really call myself an Oxford man.† Gatsby was also in the army during the war, â€Å"Why yes, I was in the twenty – eighth infantry.† The only major difference we can see between the two men is that Gatsby never married the â€Å"beautiful† Daisy. He never made it to marriage, this could possibly be because he never had money, unlike Fitzgerald, who made his money, and then met Zelda.

Module One: Introduction to Theory

2. Explain the relationships of the concepts of the client, health, environment and nursing. Answer: These four major concepts establish a better direction and understanding of nursing profession. The Nursing Metaparadigm embodies the knowledge base, theory, philosophy, research, practice, and educational experience and literature identified with the profession. These given concepts vary in accordance to the experiences and views of different nursing theorists. . HUMAN BEINGS Human beings are viewed as open energy fields with unique life experiences. As energy fields, they are greater than and different from the sum of their parts and cannot be predicted from knowledge of their parts. Humans, as holistic beings, are unique, dynamic, sentient, and multidimensional, capable of abstract reasoning, creativity, aesthetic appreciation and self-responsibility. Language, empathy, caring, and other abstract patterns of communication are aspects of an individually high level of complexity and diversity and enable one to increase knowledge of self and environment. Humans are viewed as valued persons, to be respected, nurtured and understood with the right to make informed choices regarding their health. For the purpose of study in nursing, biological, psychological, spiritual, intellectual and sociocultural dimensions of human beings and stages of human development are delineated as they affect behavior and health. These dimensions operate within and upon the human being in an open, interrelated, interdependent, and interactive way. The nursing client is an open system, continually changing in mutual process with the changing environment. Recipients of nursing actions may be well or ill and include individuals, families and communities.

International Relations A Important Form Of Relationship

International Relations is a very important form of relationship in world politics today. So far as the world is made up of individuals, states, countries and various cultures there will also be a form of interactions with one another thereby leading to International Relations. Over the years, International Relations has been governed by two major theories. These theories are known as Idealism and Realism. In addition, theories are very important in international relations this is because theories are made to have contributions and solutions to world issues. Also, Theories can be defined as the development of series of statements about rational behaviour based upon a dominant motive such as Power; such theory provides a description of the political behaviour of rational actors. (Akinboye Ottoh, 2005:53). Theories are also seen as a set of norms or values indicating how political actor ought to behave. The essence of theory for realism and idealism is to show their views on Internat ional Relations Issues. These two approaches have been seen as competing traditional approaches, furthermore, each of these approaches wants to be recognised as the major and sound approach to the study of International Relations (Dinesh). Each of these theories has its particular views on International Relations therefore believing they can explain and understand, International Relations. Idealism also known as Liberalism is a theory of International that majorly believe that the interactionsShow MoreRelatedInternational Relations : The Distribution Of Power, Development, And Dependency Within States1070 Words   |  5 PagesInternational relations are completely based off of anarchy and states making interactions between each other. Marxism helps explain a state’s ideals for why they make interactions and for what reasons. 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