Benthams version of Utilitarianism Essay Example for Free

Benthams version of Utilitarianism EssayUtilitarianism is the honest theory that shows the reasons for a someone choosing to carry out an body process it justifies an meetion being for the greater true(p). Utilitarianism is a teleological theory which means it looks at the consequences or result of an action to decide whether it is subsequently accountability or wrong this also 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 man who originally thought of and came up with the idea of Utilitarianism, he believed in the superlative advantageously for the greatest number. There are two types of Utilitarianism Benthams theory is Act Utilitarianism. Act Utilitarianism is about creating the greatest amount of merriment in a particular situation through a particular action.Bentham believed and used res earch to cogitate that mass would naturally seek pleasure and avoid botheration. Nature had placed mankind under the brass of two s everyplaceeign masters, inconvenience oneself and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do as well as to determine what we shall do. (Bentham) Bentham truly believed that pleasure was the purest form of good and pain the sole evil he byword this as moral fact. This is why Bentham is also known as a hedonist. The hedonists were a group of Hellenic people who sought to find true pleasure hedone means pleasure in Greek, this group include people such as Plato and Aristotle who agreed that good was found in the greatest felicity.The principle of expediency was a way to find out how good or bad an action was, based on its utility (usefulness). An action that creates the most pleasure and the least pain is a useful one and wherefore it is good pain v pleasure. For Bentham good, is the utmost amount of pleasure with the mini mum amount of pain discomfit and bad, is pain with little pleasure received. Bentham believed that in any situation a person should think of a solution that will lead to the maximum joy for the maximum of people.For example, if a man with the cure for crabby person and a young kid were in a car 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 die is out weighed by the amount of people you have saved if development Benthams theory.However Bentham knew that it would be hard to announce the outcome of every situation and know which route to sham and so in order to foster, he came up with the indulgent calculus which you tin can use to run for out which extract will produce the greatest amount of pleasure. There are s level factors which you must take into account when choosing what to do in a original 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 thither likely 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 person your wife, your child or a touch who has the ability to save many. 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 more pleasure than if you save the wife or child, however this tough termination would leave you without pleasure. Following Benthams utilitarianism you must sav e the doctor.When a decision has to be made over a moral situation, the hedonic calculus is used. In use 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 serious weakness DiscussIt is true that Utilitarianism does have many strengths however it does have weaknesses too. Bentham, Mill, Hare and Singers theories each have their own faults.Utilitarianism is very straight forward and easy to understand. It is very natural for a person to consider the outcome and how much pleasure they will gain before 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 out in the process of considering what to do in certain places, for example giving to charity gives happiness to th e poor and is good whereas acting cruelly towards someone is bad.The use of Utilitarianism can be carried out universally. Utilitarianism is not dependant on any religion, culture, scat or society as it is about a person or groups happiness. This use of utilitarianism is great because it makes people picture and understand other peoples point of view for example if you were to hit someone then preferably of carrying out the action, you would think about the outcome picture yourself in the other 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 mainly used in preference utilitarianism as Hare put it standing in someone elses shoes.The fact that Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory 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 alw ays predict the outcome of an action completely right for example if you go out to steal to help your family pass 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 swear that you will give 30,000 (all of his notes 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 belief is that the money must 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 du ty.Benthams Act utilitarianism although was flexible and relied on the consequences it had no defence for minorities for example one slave being treated badly but creating happiness for a whole family would be thought of as right. Also it is very im concrete having to calculate 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 more happiness can be created by disobeying them.