...Philosopher Research Paper John Stuart Mill Prepared for Professor Sandra Gates Kaplan University Prepared by Lea Geckler November 1, 2011 INTRODUCTION This report discusses the history, theories, proof and weaknesses of John Stuart Mill ideals on Utilitarianism. Mill believes that if people participate in ethical actions it will create pleasure in life, and that is what most people want in life is pleasure not pain. Utilitarian’s believe the only things worth having are pleasurable experiences. Unfortunately not all experiences are pleasurable and they cause pain. Utilitarian’s define good and evil in terms of ethical and non-ethical consequences of pleasure and pain. (Brooks & Dunn, Chapter 3 pg.150) Simply stated do the ethical action and be rewarded with pleasure or do the unethical actions and be rewarded with pain, which can be physical or mental. Mill explains that pleasure and pain can be qualitative and quantitative for example; if you have a project and it time consuming, stressful and mentally exhausting this is the quantitative aspect but getting recognition from your manager or top management on a job well done is the qualitative aspect and that is the pleasure. HISTORYOF JOHN STUART MILL Mill was educated by his father and Jeremy Bentham, the founder of Utilitarianism in modern ethical thought (Encyclopedia of Ethics). He learned Greek at the age of three, Latin by the age of 8, a competent logician by the age of 12 and by age 16...
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...Name Professor Course Date Why does Mills think that Utilitarianism provides the foundation for Justice and why does Rawls reject it? Introduction The concept of utilitarianism is one that has engulfed the philosophical arena with an obscene number of arguments that support and/or criticize it. Generally, utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics that defines an action as one that ensures maximum utility. Other schools of thought would like to put it as the concept of “maximizing happiness while reducing suffering” (Mills 3).In as much as utilitarianism has continued to receive applause from people and the political scene, other divergent scholars has come up with other theories that seek to compromise the philosophies under which the concept of utilitarianism operates. As a result, utilitarianism has become subject to contradictions from other theories in the field of ethics. The thinking class in other fields of utilitarianism characterizes in as a quantitative yet reductionist approach to ethics (Mills 3). Over time, the concept of utilitarianism has received ideological threats from; deontological ethics which does not assign moral worth to an action based on its consequences, virtue ethics that solely deals with action and habits that results to happiness, pragmatic ethics and other forms of ethics that backs the idea of consequentialism. In a nut shell, the concept of utilitarianism as defined by political philosophers and in relation to justice is becoming...
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...Utilitarianism ENG300 Information Literacy Assessment [Type the author name] This paper will discuss utilitarianism, its origins and how we can apply it to our lives today. I will show what would happen if everyone adopted this code of ethics and reasoning, and why I chose it. Utilitarianism What is Utilitarianism? According to our textbooks, utilitarianism is the ethical system which believes that which is ethical is what will bring the greatest good or happiness to the greatest number of people (Turner, 2006). In a direct quote from the American Heritage Dictionary, utilitarianism is the ethical theory proposed by Jeremy Bentham and James Mill that all action should be directed toward achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language). Though there are many varieties of the view discussed, utilitarianism is generally held to be the view that the morally right action is the action that produces the most good. There are many ways to spell out this general claim. One thing to note is that the theory is a form of consequentialism: the right action is understood entirely in terms of consequences produced. What distinguishes utilitarianism from egoism has to do with the scope of the relevant consequences. On the utilitarian view one ought to maximize the overall good — that is, consider the good of others as well as one's own good (Driver, 2009).A well-known dialogue by Leonard...
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...Ethical Relativism Vs. Utilitarianism Last time we saw Jim, he was returning from a day hike through the rainforest in South America. Unfortunately, he was captured by government troops along with rebel fighters who were being detained for execution. Fortunate enough for him, the government commander put Jim in a life changing situation, kill the rebel leader himself and he along with the remaining rebels get let go. If he failed to do so, the commander and his troops will execute all the rebels, sack their village for anything of value, and leave Jim stranded in the rainforest with no supplies, resulting in almost certain death. Through analyzing the theory of ethical relativism, we were able to decide that Jim should in fact kill the rebel leader, but what if we analyze another ethical theory? Will we come up with the same answer as we did before? Or is it possible that through the research of different theories and ideas we can come up with a completely different response to Jim’s unusual predicament? Using a new theory, utilitarianism, or, the idea that actions are right if they are useful or for the benefit of a majority, we can further analyze why Jim should still kill the rebel leader and why it is a better answer than if we were to use relativism. This paper will describe the ethical theory of utilitarianism in great detail, it will than be applied to Jim’s situation just like before, challenge opposing viewpoints of utilitarianism, refresh ourselves on why we originally...
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...Unit 2: Research Paper Jeremy Bentham Kaplan University Denise Manning AC504-01: Ethical Issues in Business and Accounting Professor Sandra Gates May 8, 2012 I will discuss Jeremy Bentham, who is considered the founding father of utilitarianism. He was an English philosopher and a political radical. Jeremy was born on February 15, 1748 in Houndsditch, London and died June 6, 1832. Jeremy Bentham came from a family of attorneys and lived during a time period of major social, political and economic change. In 1760 He went to the Queen’s College, Oxford and graduated in 1764. He also studied law at Lincoln’s Inn. Even though he was qualified to practice law, he never did. Jeremy decided to devote his life to writing on matters of legal reform. Some days he would write for eight to 12 hours. His best known works were on theoretical questions about law. Although, he did not make much of an effort to have his writings published. Jeremy’s most important work is the “Introduction to the principles of Morals and Legislation (1789)”, where his moral theory reflected “the greatest happiness principle” is described and developed. Upon his death on June 6, 1832, he left thousands of manuscript pages, all of which he hoped would eventually be prepared and published. The basis of Bentham’s moral and political philosophy is the greatest happiness principle, universal egoism and the artificial identification of...
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...First, I assume that the goal of parenting for middle-class Americans is to prepare children for a happy adulthood and that this equates with a successful adulthood. Second, I apply Utilitarianism as a moral basis for parenting as both share the same fundamental goal of happiness. Third, I explicate the concerted cultivation parenting style used by many middle-class Americans and offer ways in which this style can be expanded to encompass moral ends, in addition to already established practical objectives. Fourth, I argue that applying Utilitarianism as a moral foundation for parenting enables parents to identify the trap of helicopter parenting which is a distortion of concerted cultivation parenting. Finally, I conclude that applying Mill’s normative ethical theory to common approaches to parenting will lead to the enhancement of effective parenting practices and the avoidance of problematic parenting conventions which will, in turn, move parents closer to achieving their goal of raising their children to be happy...
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...and Email have already attained a very high level of usage by people of different age groups and in different countries because of the benefits and convenience they offer and the decreasing costs of usage. Internet is developing as a powerful tool of entertainment, communication, trade and research. Thus, it is becoming an essential and integrated part of the business process. The invention of Internet has given rise to several ethical issues, one of which is concerned with the privacy of Internet and email users. The focus of this paper is narrowed to the issue of email and web usage monitoring by employers, which is on the rise not only in USA but also in most of the other countries. This paper will carefully elaborate the ethical implications of email and web usage monitoring by employers and at the same time argue that the practice of email and web usage monitoring by employers is unethical. J.S. Mill's Theory of Utilitarianism provides for the grounds on which a clear distinction between the ethical and the unethical can be made. Mill's theory claims that a behavior is ethical only if its consequences result in the greatest utility for the greatest number of people. According to Mill, humans project their actions based on the desire to achieve some specific final goals. He defines actions as simply means to a final end. Therefore, the morality of an action should not be judged by the action itself. Instead, the outcomes that result from an action should be carefully analyzed...
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... Bernard Williams’ article "A Critique of Utilitarianism" has been consistently referred to as the definitive work that refutes utilitarianism.[1] In this article, Williams builds an argument against consequentialist ethical theories in general and utilitarianism specifically. According to Williams, all forms of consequentialism are concerned solely with consequences and are indifferent to the personal integrity of a person, something that is formed by their deepest held moral principles.[2] By forcing a person to reject her conscience and compelling her to perform lesser evils, utilitarianism requires us to discard integrity and should be rejected on these grounds, or at least so says Williams.[3] It can be difficult to understand Williams’ argument without making clear the charges he makes against utilitarianism and why they are considered to be effective attacks against the view. To get the clearest conception possible of the charges made, one should have a firm grasp of the utilitarian position so that one may successfully relate Williams’ criticisms to the theory. First, the utilitarian moral theory must be clearly formulated. Then I will present and clarify some of Williams’ objections against this theory. Finally, I will explore some utilitarian responses to Williams’ objections. Articulating Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is a moral theory that is traditionally attributed to Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.[4] In his essay An Introduction to the Principles...
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...ESTHER OLADUNNI MATRIC NO 01/09/AV/4018 TABLE OF CONTENT INTRODUCTION DEFINITION ETHICAL PRINCIPLES • BENEFICENCE • LEAST HARM • RESPECT FOR AUTONOMY • JUSTICE ETHICAL THEORIES • DEONTOLOGY • UTILITARIASM • RIGHTS • CASUIST • VIRTUE VIEW OR NOTABLE SCHOLARS • PLATO ABSOLUTION • ARISOTLE: EUDEMONISM • ST. THOMAS AQUINESS – NATURAL LAW • IMMANUEL KANT: DEONTOLOGY • JOHN STUART MILL – UTILITARISM • JOHN RAWLS – CONGRATURIANISM • TOM REGAN: RIGHTS THEORY (BONUS THEORY ) • TENTATIVE COMPARISON (TABLE & GRAPH) • CRITICISM AGAINST DEONTOLOGY: “ “ UTILITARIANISM “ “ RIGHTS “ “ CASUIST “ “ VIRTUE • CONCLUSION • REFERENCES CRITICISMS OF ETHICAL THEORIES INTRODUCTION The art of critiquing is basically to appraise a work i.e articles, write-ups, novels etc. Critiquing does not aim to condemn or castigate a paper but to seek the flaws, identify the various meanings, put up better explanations on the subject, seek the weaknesses and strengths and give opinions to enhance the quality of the discourse. The topic of this discourse is ETHICAL THEORIES CRITICISM. We shall examine the definition of ethics, the meaning of ethical theories, types of ethnical theories and the various submissions of famous scholars, its relevance to the society interactivity and criticize them in comparison...
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...Corporate Governance and Ethical Responsibility Research Paper Essie Sullivan Dr. Cantrell Legal 500 Law, Ethics & Corporate Governance February 11, 2013 1. Determine at least three (3) different internal and external stakeholders that Dr. DoRight might have to deal with on a daily basis at the hospital. Hospital facilities are definitely significant in the well-being of patients and expertise of its medical staff personnel. However, Dr. DoRight has been hired as the President of the “Universal Human Care Hospital”, where he oversees all departments with over 5000 employees and over 20,000 patients at the medical facility. He has been given an enormous responsibility to ensure to its internal and external stakeholders that all departments function efficiently and patients’ care and health are essentials. Therefore, three internal stakeholders that Dr. DoRight might have to deal with on a daily basis are Board of Trustees (shareholders), Employees, and his Regional Director of Compliance Manager and Executive Committee. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from http://www.allfreepapers.com/Business/Corporate-Governance-Ethical-Responsibility/22558.html. Additionally, three external stakeholders that Dr. DoRight might have to deal with on a daily basis consist of Patients, Numerous Community Organizations--Corporations, Government, and Local Community/Society. Retrieved February 10, 2013 from http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/2-compare-cont...
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...Assignment 3: Corporate Governance and Ethical Responsibility Research Paper Due Week 6 and worth 250 points Dr. Do Right has recently been hired as the President of the “Universal Human Care Hospital”, where he oversees all departments with over 5,000 employees and over 20,000 patients at the medical facility. He has been provided with a broad set of duties and oversight of numerous departments, including business development, customer services, human resources, legal, patient advocacy, to name a few. He has managers in each department that he supervises and who work with him to address the needs of the various internal and external stakeholders of the hospital. Dr. Do Right discovers that some patients within the hospital have been dying as a result of a variety of illegal procedures by doctors and nurses, and negligent supervision and oversight on their part. This was brought to his attention in a few meetings and he told his Regional Director Compliance Manager and Executive Committee in January 2009. He was told by them that the matter would be investigated and they would report any findings to him as soon as possible. After two (2) years, there have been no results from the investigation and some patients are still passing away due to the negligent activities. He also answers to a board of trustees and interfaces with numerous community organizations and corporations who have various reasons for doing business with the hospital. Dr. Do Right continues to win awards for...
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...IIBM Institute of Business Management Examination Paper Business Ethics Section-A Part One: Multiple Choices: 1. (a) Information Technology 2. (a) Equal distribution of all benefits & burdens on peoples 3. (c) Retributive Justice 4. (b) Free Markets 5. (d) Historical Materialism 6. (a) Pure Monopoly 7. (a) Highly concentrated Markets 8. (b) Chlorofluorocarbons 9. (b) Market Cost 10. (c) Both (a) and (b) Part Two: 1. Definition: Mineral depletion is the ratio of the value of the stock of mineral resources to the remaining reserve lifetime (capped at 25 years). It covers tin, gold, lead, zinc, iron, copper, nickel, silver, bauxite, and phosphate. At first glance, sustainability and mineral resource development appear to be in conflict. Mining depletes finite resources and in a strict sense, therefore, is inherently unsustainable. For instance, there is only a finite amount of copper in the earth’s crust, and each unit of copper extracted increases the fraction of the total copper resource base that is in use. Thus, it can be argued that if we continue to mine we will eventually exhaust the available supply of minerals. This perspective, however, ignores the dynamics of mineral supplies. In practice the non-renewable character of minerals may be less constraining than it might seem. Five factors make the benefits from mining much more sustainable than they initially appear to be. First, through the process of exploration and development...
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...world of politics, the main bone to pick with one another among the liberals and conservatives in the world of economics is the topic of government intervention. Conservative Austrian economists believe in an entirely free market, with very little to no government intervention whatsoever, (even in times of severe economic downturn and in the midst of financial crises), whereas more liberal Keynesian economists believe that government intervention is key to maintaining a healthy, growing economy with little to no possibility of collapse. These two vastly different economic philosophies not only have monetary implications, but also very significant social as well as ethical ones. Keynesian economics was developed by the British economist John Maynard Keynes who was born in 1883 and died in 1946 (Keynesian Economics, 2). His economic theory, which would later bear his name, gained widespread recognition during the Great Depression of the early 1930s. The main components of his economic theories have to do with the role of the Federal Government in the mitigation of economic recessions. Keynes advocated capitalism as a healthy economic system, but also noted that in such a society there are going to be...
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...Many situations experienced by people living with mental health problems involve human rights. However, there is little information available about human rights and how they relate to mental health. Too often, a person may not realise that they are able to do something about their situation, or even that there is something wrong with the way they are being treated. It is therefore vital that people living with mental health problems are able to access information about their human rights and challenge bad treatment. {BIHR, 2006, P.4}. What are Human Rights? * They belong to everyone. * They are based on principles of fairness, equality, dignity, and respect. * They are about how public authorities – including the Government, hospitals and social services – must treat you. * They prevent authorities from doing certain things to you, like treating you in a degrading way. * They also sometimes force authorities to take certain actions, like taking steps to protect your life. * They were first legally defined by international agreement after the horrors of the Second World War. * Since the Second World War, there have been many different international human rights agreements. * One of the most important human rights agreements is the European Convention on Human Rights. The basic rights and freedoms, to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and...
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...Logic Main article: Logic Logic is the study of the principles of correct reasoning. Arguments use either deductive reasoning or inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is when, given certain statements (called premises), other statements (called conclusions) are unavoidably implied. Rules of inferences from premises include the most popular method, modus ponens, where given “A” and “If A then B”, then “B” must be concluded. A common convention for a deductive argument is the syllogism. An argument is termed valid if its conclusion does indeed follow from its premises, whether the premises are true or not, while an argument is sound if its conclusion follows from premises that are true. Propositional logic uses premises that are propositions, which are declarations that are either true or false, while predicate logic uses more complex premises called formulae that contain variables. These can be assigned values or can be quantified as to when they apply with the universal quantifier (always apply) or the existential quantifier (applies at least once). Inductive reasoning makes conclusions or generalizations based on probabilistic reasoning. For example, if “90% of humans are right-handed” and “Joe is human” then “Joe is probably right-handed”. Fields in logic include mathematical logic (formal symbolic logic) and philosophical logic. Metaphysics Main article: Metaphysics Metaphysics is the study of the most general features of reality, such as existence, time, the relationship...
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