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Part One: The purpose and meaning of my life is…to fulfill my life as a child of God. I have always been a religious person. My decisions and actions are guided by a moral compass and by the Ten Commandments. I believe in an ultimate and absolute truth that governs all humans. This is my meaningful philosophy of life that has been encouraged by my parents. After being confirmed, I took it upon myself to try to make this philosophy more guided by my own internal beliefs, and less to do with my parent’s expectations. I traveled on some youth retreats to find the center of my beliefs, and God guided me to answers. I now hold and can defend my beliefs and morals very close to my heart. I have very generically answered the purpose and meaning of my life question. But after taking this class, it seems that I took a typical religious approach of dodging the specifics of the question by answering that God is the answer to all. When I think the specifically about purpose and meaning, I ponder my life a little deeper than “the life of a child of God.” What is the purpose of my life? Where do I find the meaning of my life? Both these questions I believe can be answered more specially by the human connections I have made. My family and friends give my life purpose and meaning. I believe that it is a combination of my relationship and dedication to God AND my relationship and dedication to my friends and family that make up the purpose and meaning of my life. Without God, I would have trouble finding purpose to my life. He has a plan for me, and without knowing and believing that absolute truth, I don’t know if I would be able to get through the difficult times. I have traveled to some dark places, and God has helped me out of those by ... ... middle of paper ... ...r utilitarianism do right and wrong transform to fit the needs of the “most,” or are good and evil absolute no matter which individuals hold the majority? The questions were left unanswered by the research I conducted, but if I was to consider myself a utilitarian, I would hope the good and evil can prevail even under these circumstances. I have unknowingly been practicing utilitarianism for most of my life. Due to the extent of my ignorance, I have not been following the ethical theory perfectly. But then again, I think the ability to practice even without requiring knowledge beforehand is utilitarianism’s greatest advantage. The founding ideal of “do the best for most” is the driving force for my interests and connection to the ethical theory. I am amazed at how easy the theory is to practice and how many people most likely have a daily practice of it anyways.
The problem with Utilitarianism is not that it seeks to maximize happiness. Rather, it is that Utilitarianism is so fixated on generating the most happiness that the need to take into account the morality of the individual actions that constitute the result is essentially eradicated. In so doing, the possibility of committing unethical actions in the name of promoting the general welfare is brought about, which in turn, renders Utilitarianism an inadequate ethical
In an age where humanity realizes the differences between right and wrong, and ponders why they choose whichever side they do, utilitarianism provides and answer.
According to Sober, "Utilitarianism is an ethical theory whose central idea is 'the greatest good for the greatest number'" (Sober 430). Utilitarianism rose in opposition to the idea that the upper crust of society had the right to arrange the rules of society as they saw fit. The concern of Utilitarianism is the most good for the most people, not the most good for the people that "matter." From this standpoint, Utilitarianism appears to be an attractive ethical theory. However, there are many philosophers who criticize Utilitarianism. They argue that the apparently simple premise of Utilitarianism has many complex problems behind it. For example, what is happiness? How can we ensure the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people? And what happens if acting for the greatest good for the greatest number leads to injustice? I believe that a specific variation of Utilitarianism -- Rule Utilitarianism -- can adequately address these problems, and it is therefore the most plausible ethical theory.
The ethical theory of utilitarianism has one basis, one must chose the action that will contribute to the greatest good; the greatest good for the greatest number. In any instance one may ask, which action will make the most people happy and how long? As a method
‘’Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that places the focus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes (consequences) of choosing one action and or policy over others (Cavalier, 1996)’’. It is a morally demanding position and asks one to do the
Utilitarianism is a standard, a means of identifying whether actions are good or bad depending on the end result. John Stuart Mill has a simple way of looking at how we try to attain happiness and limit pain, in his essay he breaks it up into multiple parts, like what makes an action good or bad, the Greatest Happiness Principle, the person’s mind as he weighs if the happiness is worth the pain, and why one happiness is prefered over the other. I believe that Utilitarianism is flawed, it is difficult to use in larger scales and even has hiccups on the personal level.
In this first part of this paper I will be explaining my worldview. There are three influences I will focus on to give an in depth look at how I came to my worldview. The three influences are religion, family, and my career choice. I think the biggest part of my worldview comes from my religion so I will start with that. I am a Christian and with that comes certain beliefs. Those beliefs lead my life daily and contribute to my worldview. One those beliefs is to spread his word. God’s word is such an important part to look at because it gives a framework to guide my life in every aspect. The Bible is filled with commandments, stories, and scripture that reference to how to look at life from a moral, social, and personal standpoint. We can actually begin to see the purpose for our through the word as well. Life’s purpose, according to the Bible, is for God’s glory. We are supposed to praise, worship, proclaim him, and follow his will. “Everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made,” (Isaiah 43:7) I like this verse because I feel like it reminds me of what God has done for me. From that ...
I believe that Utilitarianism is a universal theory that can be applied to any situation despite the circumstance across all cultures and societies. This theory also uses efficacy in that it creates the most desired output for least desired input. This is much like the result of products in a capitalistic society; we want what works best, what costs the cheapest, and what lasts the longest. In my opinion, it is the most ideal philosophy for a democracy. The majority decides what is best. You put everything to a vote by the people and go with whatever the majority wants.
As human beings, we often have desires that are not always consistent with yielding the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. Utilitarianism would argue that putting one’s own desires first and pursuing one’s own interests is wrong and immoral behavior. While some moral theories acknowledge that pursuing one’s own interests can be morally optional, in Utilitarianism, it is always forbidden (Moral Theory, p. 135). This makes the theory overly demanding because one is constantly forced to consider others. Utilitarians can respond to this objection by challenging the claim that pursuing one’s own desires cannot ever be consistent with the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. Certainly there can be times when pursuing one’s own desires is also consistent with producing the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. Utilitarians might also point out that moral theories are meant to be demanding because they are teaching individuals how to act morally and acting morally is not always the desirable course of
“What is the meaning of life?” This question is something that likely everyone has at least pondered. There is an abundance of theories about what the meaning of life is. Non- philosophers tend to consider it to be life’s greatest question. Philosophers, however, tend to stray from the question, as they believe that it is either not a clear enough question to be answered, or that it simply does not have an answer at all (Seachris). The meaning of life is different for everyone. Everyone has both a specific and a general purpose in life, given to them at the beginning of time by God, and the meaning of life is to fulfill those purposes. The specific purpose is personalized to each individual, and each person is liable to have multiple specific
Utilitarianism is one of the most commonly used ethical theories from the time it was formulated by Jeremy Bentham and John Stewart Mill in the nineteenth century. In his work, Utilitarianism, Bentham “sought to dispel misconceptions that morality has nothing to do with usefulness or utility or that morality is opposed to pleasure” (MacKinnon, 2012, p. 53). To simplify the utilitarian principle, which is one of utility, one can surmise that morality is equated with the greatest amount of utility or good for the greatest number of people (MacKinnon, 2012). Also, with its orientation to the “end or goal of actions” (MacKinnon, 2012, p. 54), Utilitarianism thus, espouses the consequentialist principle, e.g., the evaluation of any human
Happiness is the ultimate goal in life. Utilitarianism is simple, it claims that an action is morally right if and only if doing the action maximizes pleasure. An action is morally wrong if it fails to maximize pleasure. it help people, and morally wrong actions harm people You make people happy when you help them and you make them unhappy when you harm them. In this paper, I will show that Utilitarianism is a true ethical theory because it (benefits the greater good) is encompasses all beings in society, is impartial (nonpartisan). First I will explain why Utilitarianism promotes the greatest pleasure for the most people. Next, I will set out to explain how Utilitarianism would help with societal issues we are facing . Then, I will consider the best objection to Utilitarianism as to a lack of self interest and self good and give my reply.-morally repungnant-
The meaning of life is not an easy thing to talk about. It depends on the person that you are. Life is a clear slate and we are free to put any meaning we want to the word. Life does not have a certain meaning. Whatever we want life to mean is what it will mean to us. We are focused too much on putting a definition on every little thing that we can’t accept the fact that something does not have a meaning to it. It is not necessarily bad that life does not have a meaning. Life not having a meaning means that it is too difficult to define. Life is like an unsolvable math problem. In the end it is still considered a math problem, but it’s just unsolvable. Life is the same way. Life is life, but not one individual can define life perfectly. It’s too difficult to define.
I have always been to asking myself what is meaning of life? or what I supposed to do ? or what I have to achieve? . Meaning of life what 's you have been given? what you have given by different kind of human? Or what I believe or what I do not believe in life .Everybody have Meaning of life it depends between person to person, I found myself when I was young because my parents always talk about experience in their life.Throughout my entire life ,I have wondered about the significance meaning of life that has beneficial for the people, because the life is beginning odds and ending odds .Even though struggle of life, I believe meaning of life are ,regional ,ambition, participate ,achievement ,and happiness .Due to this, I
Utilitarianism is defined to be “the view that right actions are those that result in the most beneficial balance of good over bad consequences for everyone involved” (Vaughn 64). In other words, for a utilitarian,