Rule Utilitarianism

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As we look through the news today we tend to see a topic resurface. This topic is the use of medical marijuana. Medical marijuana has many interesting topics to cover however there are some issues that come along with this. Some issues medical marijuana could help with is decease, and it could even boost the economy. Medical marijuana is still illegal though, so this makes the decision to use it that much harder. This paper will demonstrate why medical marijuana should be allowed to be utilized in respects to rule utilitarianism. We are going to look at these issues through the eyes of a rule utilitarian. We will see how Milton defines rule utilitarian and see what laws, illnesses, and morals effect medical marijuana and its use.
First question is what makes a rule utilitarian? Well according to Nathanson “Rule utilitarian’s adopt a two-part view that stresses the importance of moral rules. According to rule utilitarian’s, a) a specific action is morally justified if it conforms to a justified moral rule; and b) a moral rule is justified if …show more content…
By “happiness” Mill means pleasure and the absence of pain. He grants however, that some pleasure is more worthwhile than others (Pg. 114).” The difference between rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism is that in act utilitarianism they look the individual action to see if it is morally acceptable so it produces pleasure, where in rule utilitarianism we look to see the evaluation of the rules that are placed in society whether socially or by legislature to see if those who accept these rules will produce the most utility. What this means is that when these people obey these rules we see if they will produce pleasure. We see utility as a moral rule that we must follow because we would not want someone

Rule Utilitarianism Case Study

A Rule Utilitarian will describe the dilemma in terms of rules. The two conflicting rules are 1) the rule of loyalty to those you work with and 2) the rule of professional obligation in terms of reporting a pharmacist’s impairment in the workplace. The Rule Utilitarian will resolve this issue by subordinating one rule to the other such that if pharmacy interns were to follow it in every situation, it produces the greatest amount of happiness. Assume that rule 1) is subordinated to rule 2), meaning…

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The Schiavos, Rule Utilitarianism, and Kantian Ethics Essay

Rui Chaves The Schiavos, Rule Utilitarianism, and Kantian Ethics The case of “The Schiavos” is focused primarily on one member of the family, which is Terri Schiavo. Terri had been in a coma for 13 years. Although, “no one is completely sure what happened but the best guess is she suffered a heart attack” (Pierce, 64) presumably caused by her bulimia. Due to the severity of her heart attack, it left Terri with severe brain damaged which in turn left her in a persistent vegetative state which leaves…

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Key Features of Utilitarianism Essay

Examine the key features of utilitarianism (21) The theory of Utilitarianism is based on the concept of utility, a theory of usefulness. Utilitarianism is a system of morality that generates us with what the most useful thing to do in different situations and outcomes. Different Utilitarian approaches to morality have emerged each with their own theory of good and community of concerning individuals. Featuring the main influential contributors to this theory are Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill…

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1) Outline the important concepts of Utilitarianism. (21) Utilitarianism is a teleological theory in which guides people to make moral decisions. The key principle of utilitarianism is to bring about the ‘greatest happiness for the greatest number’ of people. This means that the most amounts of people should be satisfied and the most amount of pleasure should be gained, therefore making the act moral. However, because of this the minority are always forgotten, therefore meaning sometimes an immoral…

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A DEBATE OVER UTILITARIANISM In the elements of moral philosophy By J. Rachels Presented by – Nida Naqvi UTILITARIAN APPROACH TO ETHICS   Jeremy Bentham’s motto “the greatest good for the greatest number”  A legal reformer who lived during the 18th and the 19th centuries  Objective – provide publicly acceptable norm for determining what kind of laws England should enact. Example Theft analysis John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873)  “ The Utilitarian doctrine is that happiness is desirable…

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Essay on WK1 D1

philosophy are utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. The theory of utilitarianism, you see whether an act is the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do. You have to look at what will result from the act and you should choose the act that has the best results. In our book, Ethics and Social Responsibility it explains that utilitarianism is best described as “if there is only one cookie left in the cookie jar and you have two kids, they would split the cookie”. Utilitarianism is a little…

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Utilitarianism and Happiness Essay

Utilitarianism Sandra LaFave West Valley College The notion of an ethics based on utility — usefulness for human concerns, especially human happiness — was one of the revolutionary Continental ideas of the Enlightenment period. Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794), for example, in his extremely influential work On Crimes and Punishments, argues that punishments should be inflicted only insofar as they are useful for human purposes; and that governments should not think themselves free to punish inhumanely…

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Essay On John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism

John Stuart Mill, in his short work “Utilitarianism,” argues that utilitarian ideals create the most happiness and value for society. In chapter four of the book, Mill argues that the development of positive habits in society is essential to utilitarianism in practice. To support this claim, he distinguishes the concepts of desire and will, stating that morality stems from desire, but that desire fades over time. Will, in Mill’s view, is the driving force in a person over time, and will is susceptible…

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Essay on Could a Christian be a utilitarian

Utilitarianism can exist alongside Christianity because both accept the equality of the individual. The difference is that the outcome in Utilitarianism is a mass decision as a product of individual and equal voting. Utilitarianism accepts the fact that in order to achieve the greatest good, there will be victims as a result. This would go against the idea of ‘agape’ and loving your neighbour. Christians believe that it is their responsibility to look after and help the weak, not to simply accept…

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Bentham And Mill And Utilitarianism

Bentham and Mill – Utilitarianism Bentham was basically the inventor of utilitarianism and Utilitarianism is when we wish to have more pleasure than pain and situations should ensure that pleasure outweighs pain. However Bentham refuses to define pleasure and pain philosophically and takes them at face value. Bentham saw happiness as quantitative theory and believed it could be measures, therefore Bentham put forward the idea of hedonistic calculus as a way of measuring pleasure. The hedonic calculus…

Words 862 - Pages 4