John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism is one of the most influential and well-known moral theories. Although it has received a lot of criticisms for it, every person can use it to apply to whether something is morally right or morally wrong. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism. Consequentialism argues that what is right or wrong depends on the consequences of an action and that the more good consequences there are, the better the action. Utilitarians believe that to make life better, one must act morally and by increasing the good things in life (pleasure) and minimizing the bad things (pain). This is how Utilitarianism is also a form of Hedonism.
The two forms of Utilitarianism are Rule and Act Utilitarianism. Act Utilitarians believe that whatever we decide to do, we must think of the action that will create the greatest utility. In their view, a person should act in accordance to produce the best overall results and that it should be applied "situation by situation." On the other hand, Rule Utilitarians stress the importance of moral rules. According to Rule Utilitarians, an action is only justified if it conforms to a moral rule. According to this perspective, a person should judge whether something is morally right by looking to see if it follows a set of moral "rules."
The main difference between Act and Rule Utilitarianism is that Act Utilitarians apply it directly to individual actions while Rule Utilitarians focus on a set of rules and then evaluate individual actions in regards to the rules. I agree with Rule Utilitarianism because in this day and age, it is the most practical.
The more I think about Act and Rule Utilitarianism the more I see how they can be very uniquely tied into each other. An action is justified by moral rules but when the very first instance of the action was performed nobody would the true morality of the action without first seeing the results of the action. The very first time a specific action is done nothing can be understand to be morally correct without first looking at the overall results of such action. Once the results are understood to be good then the action can be performed an infinite amount of times due to the knowledge that the result is morally justifiable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I think Rule Utilitarianism is way more applicable at this time and place in society. You can determine right or wrong by how you watch the action and then make the rules according to that.
ReplyDeleteI am most definitely more of a Rule Utilitarianism believer. It is hard to base the moral good of an action solely on the outcome of the decision that one makes. I think that the Rule Utilitarianism outlook is a better way to look at moral good because it focuses more on what the person felt within them as opposed to anything that may have changed what they wanted to happen based on a decision they made.
ReplyDeleteI personally do not understand why anyone could really be a supporter for Act Utilitarianism because it is simply impossible to go though the entirety of Utilitarian Calculus in a pressing and time constraining situation and still come out with a good result. As we saw in our well known Trolley Problem, our people on the railroad tracks would have long been dead before we could come to a conclusion using the Utilitarian Calculus. I do wonder which kind of Utilitarian John Stuart Mill was; I do not think we mentioned in class which type of Utilitarianism he practiced.
ReplyDeleteUtilitarianism in general just doesn't make sense to me in the context of morality. Morality is generally thought to be something that can't change and is linked directly to actions, which isn't compatible with Utilitarianism. This theory brings morality as a subjective item not an objective one that's universally true. In the end then, I don't think it matters if we discus rule or action based, if there is not objective morality then the only thing that matters is a consequence.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your'e key points. Utilitarianism is a confusing topic but you layed it out so people could actually understand it a little better. As one commenter stated, the thing that matters here is the consequences. Without taking consequences into consideration people will be out in the world doing everything!
ReplyDelete