Benthams version of Utilitarianism Essay

Utilitarianism is the ethical guess that shows the reasons for a mortal choosing to comprise fall out an save it justifies an action being for the greater just. Utilitarianism is a teleological scheme which operator it looks at the consequences or result of an action to fall whether it is subsequently recompense or wrong this in like manner makes it a consequentialist theory. The theory of Utilitarianism began with Jeremy Bentham.Benthams theory of Utilitarianism is where actions are judged based upon the recreation gained in the result. Jeremy Bentham was the art object who originally thought of and came up with the idea of Utilitarianism, he believed in the sterling(prenominal) broad(a) for the greatest number. in that respect are deuce types of Utilitarianism Benthams theory is achievement Utilitarianism. Act Utilitarianism is about creating the greatest make out of delectation in a particular proposition situation through a particular action.Bentham believed and officed research to conclude that people would naturally seek frolic and avoid pain in the ass. Nature had placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and recreation. It is for them al unrivalled to point out what we ought to do as well as to determine what we shall do. (Bentham) Bentham truly believed that joyousness was the purest form of favourable and pain the sole evil he saw this as clean fact. This is why Bentham is as well as known as a hedonist. The hedonists were a conclave of Greek people who sought to find true pleasure hedone means pleasure in Greek, this group included people such as Plato and Aristotle who agreed that good was found in the greatest triumph.The principle of return was a way to find out how good or baffling an action was, based on its utility (usefulness). An action that creates the most pleasure and the least pain is a useful one and in that locationfore it is good pain v pleasure. For Bentham good, is the maxi mum amount of pleasure with the minimum amount of pain afflicted and bad, is pain with little pleasure received. Bentham believed that in either situation a somebody should think of a solution that lead lead to the maximum comfort for the maximum of people.For framework, if a man with the be restored for cancer and a young child were in a motorcar crash, you would assume to save the life of the child as they are considered to be innocent, however with Benthams theory you should do the maximum amount of good for the maximum amount of people, which means you should save the man. By saving the one man you then save thousands, the action of letting the child murmur is out weighed by the amount of people you leave saved if exploitation Benthams theory.However Bentham knew that it would be hard to predict the outcome of each situation and know which route to take and so in request to help, he came up with the hedonic compression which you can use to score out which option wi ll produce the greatest amount of pleasure. There are seven factors which you mustiness take into account when choosing what to do in a certain situation the intensity of the pleasure, the duration of the pleasure, how certain pleasure will be the result, how near the pleasure is to you, how continuous is the pleasure, is there believably to be pain mixed with the pleasure and how widespread will the pleasure be.When faced in a dilemma, Bentham believed that you could chose the good option the option which would do the most amount of good and the least amount of pain. For example, if you are in a plane crash and you could only save one soulfulness your wife, your child or a doctor who has the ability to save m whatsoever. Bentham believes in this situation you must use the hedonic calculus to form a solution to your problem. The doctor could make thousands of lives better and create much to a greater extent(prenominal) pleasure than if you save the wife or child, however this t ough finis would leave you without pleasure. Following Benthams utilitarianism you must save the doctor.When a finality has to be made over a moral situation, the hedonic calculus is used. In using the hedonic calculus the individuals involved should be considered by applying the seven factors to them in relation to the options for the choice of action you have.Utilitarianism has no dear weakness DiscussIt is true that Utilitarianism does have many strengths however it does have weaknesses too. Bentham, loiter, Hare and Singers theories each have their own faults.Utilitarianism is precise straight forward and halcyon to understand. It is very natural for a person to consider the outcome and how much pleasure they will gain in the beginning going through with an action. It is a principle that aims to bring people happiness this is very appealing for many in societies. Many of the ideas and theories can be related to specific actions and situations and therefore can be helped ou t in the process of considering what to do in certain places, for example giving to kindness gives happiness to the poor and is good whereas acting cruelly towards individual is bad.The use of Utilitarianism can be carried out universally. Utilitarianism is not dependant on any religion, culture, race or parliamentary procedure as it is about a person or groups happiness. This use of utilitarianism is great because it makes people impression and understand different peoples point of view for example if you were to hit someone then instead of carrying out the action, you would think about the outcome picture yourself in the another(prenominal) persons shoes understand that pain which you would cause and subsequently stop yourself from hurting them. You have to think of other peoples pleasure and pain rather than just your own. This is generally used in preference utilitarianism as Hare put it rest in someone elses shoes.The fact that Utilitarianism is a consequentialist the ory is both good and bad. It is natural for us to weigh up the consequences of an action before carrying it out however it is never going to be easy to always predict the outcome of an action completely right for example if you go out to steal to help your family survive but then get caught and arrested then you can no longer carry out the good action of helping your family.Utilitarianism may also be argued against because it ignores or seems to ignore the importance of following duties the act itself may be right or wrong for a reason other than the amount of happiness it produces, for example an old friend is on his death bed and asks you to confide that you will give 30,000 (all of his currency when he dies) to his favourite park he used to visit but on the way to handing over the money you see an advert that says it needs 30,000 to save 10,000 people. Out of duty you must give the money to the park however if you are following Utilitarianism your printing is that the money m ust going into creating the most good/ happiness which would be saving those 10,000 people. W.D Ross believed it was important for you to follow and carry out your duty.Benthams Act utilitarianism although was flexible and relied on the consequences it had no defense for minorities for example one buckle down being treated badly but creating happiness for a strong family would be thought of as right. Also it is very impractical having to place using the hedonic calculus every decision we make. There is also a difficulty defining what pleasure is for example a paedophiles pleasure is very different to another persons. Mills Rule utilitarianism is very practical and sets about certain rules for society that must be maintained which can help societies to operate. However there are weaknesses to rule utilitarianism too again there is no defence for minorities or any help at what defines happiness but also this time if you are following rules you could end up obeying them even when m ore happiness can be created by disobeying them.