Utilitarianism And Deontology Essay

Utilitarianism and Deontology

From the scenario, we know that Archer is an accountant in a small company, and she always strive to provide the best for her son, so she want to send her son to the private school. However, the tuition of private school is higher than her salary, and she has no time to get part time job either, so she embezzle money from her employer. The scenario often occurs in the real life, so is her action morally right? Generally, people would think that she is wrong because she stole the money. However, if we apply different ethical theories to analysis the scenario, we will get different answer. Let us answer the question from two different views of utilitarianism and Kantian ethics. Before we answer this question, we should be

Utilitarianism is an ethical principle usually attributed to the philosopher Jeremy Bentham. Its basis is very simple: that which brings pleasure is Good; that which causes pain is bad. In other words, if an act ultimately brings pleasure or happiness, then that act itself must be ethical. According to utilitarianism, one should consider the possible consequences of an act, but one cannot necessarily know whether the act is good or bad until the ultimate consequence are revealed in the future. In contrast, Kantian ethics refers to a moral philosophy that morality either forbids or permits actions, which is done through moral norms. Immanuel Kant describes what Kantian ethics is in reference to deontological ethical theory. It is an approach to ethics that judges the morality of an action based on the action’s adherence to a rule or rules. A deontologist gives importance to rules and duties. For example, a deontological moral theory might hold that lying is wrong, even if it produces good consequences. The Kantian theory has two main parts. In Kantian’s first formulation of the categorical imperative, he says, “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that is