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Choose a contemporary moral issue in our society and apply the ethical principle of Utilitarianism to approve this moral issue. You must pick a moral issue that you strongly support and apply the utilitarian claims to back up your arguments. The paper must be done in MLA/APA format with a minimum of 500 words (quotes are not included in the word count).

*You must apply the Four major points of Utilitarianism, apply Bentham’s Felicific Calculus and apply the utilitarian claims.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·      J. Benthams Felicific calculus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The felicific calculus is an algorithm formulated by utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham for calculating the degree or amount of pleasure that a specific action is likely to cause. Bentham, an ethicalhedonist, believed the moral rightness or wrongness of an action to be a function of the amount of pleasure or pain that it produced. The felicific calculus could, in principle at least, determine the moral status of any considered act. The algorithm is also known as the utility calculus, the hedonistic calculus and the hedonic calculus.

1. Intensity: How strong is the pleasure?
2. Duration: How long will the pleasure last?
3. Certainly and uncertainly : How likely or unlikely is it that the pleasure will occur?
4. Propinquity or remoteness: How soon will the pleasure occur?
5. Fecundity: The probability that the action will be followed by sensations of the same kind.
6. Purity: The probability that it will not be followed by sensations of the opposite kind.
7. Extent: How many people will be affected?

 

 

 

utilitarian claims

·      Utilitarianism:  is the ethical doctrine that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall utility.

·      It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the morality of an action is determined by its outcome

·      *the ends justify the means.

·      *Utility: the good to be maximized 

·      Peter Singer defines it as the satisfaction of preferences.

·      * an action may be considered right if it produces the greatest amount of net benefit and the least loss/cost of any available alternative action.

·      * the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgment about that action.

·      *morally right action is one that produces a good outcome, or consequence.

·      * the good is whatever brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people.

·      * “the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

·      * calculate the utility of an action by adding up all of the pleasure produced and subtracting from that any pain that might also be produced by the action.

·      Utilitarianism approach to morality quantitative and reductionistic

·      Utilitarianism can be contrasted with deontological ethics – focuses on the action itself rather than its consequences

·      In general use the term utilitarian often refers to a somewhat narrow economic or pragmatic viewpoint.