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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 4 page paper describes utilitarian theories of ethics, some of the philosophers who have contributed to thinking in this area, and their theories. It also describes some of the ethical consequences of supporting the positions they have taken. The paper also takes a current news item and evaluates it for assumptions, using standards of critical thinking. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVEthUti.rtf
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paper describes utilitarian theories of ethics, some of the philosophers who have contributed to thinking in this area, and their theories and influence. It also describes some of the ethical
consequences of supporting the positions they have taken. The paper also takes a current news item and explains why it is sound, using standards of critical thinking. Utilitarianism The name
most usually associated with Utilitarianism is probably John Stuart Mill, but it was actually Jeremy Bentham, Mills godfather, who is thought to have been the first to develop the idea.
Bentham was a true reformer, supporting such concepts as equal rights for women, separation of church and state, ending slavery, abolishing physical punishment, health insurance, and granting the right to
divorce, among others (Jeremy Bentham, 2006). He not only proposed these radical reforms, "but he also devised moral principles on which they should be based. This philosophy, utilitarianism, argue that
the right act or policy was that which would cause the greatest happiness of the greatest number" (Jeremy Bentham, 2006). Bentham is not the first to use the phrase, though
it is generally credited to him; he modified the wording and expressed his thought as "the greatest happiness principle" (Jeremy Bentham, 2006). Bentham called this a "sacred truth: - That
the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation" (Jeremy Bentham, 2006). This simple construction has been criticized as "lacking a principle of fairness embodied
in a conception of justice," so that it would be possible, and moral, "to torture one person if this would produce an amount of happiness in other people" (Jeremy Bentham,
2006). However, Benthams supporters argue that his theory of justice would prevent such consequences, because for Bentham "the law provides the basic framework of social interaction by delimiting spheres of
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