Utilitarianism: The End Justifies The Means

Utilitarianism can be defined as the action is morally true if its results bring happiness and wrong if the consequences is unhappiness. It is a principle that considers that actions are right if they are helpful and in advantage of a society.

Utilitarianism serves the goal of morality. It aims to make life superior by raising the amount of good deeds (for example, happiness and joy) in the world and lessening the burden of bad deeds (for instance, pain and sadness)

The theory of Utilitarianism emerges to be an easy one as it includes only one principle: Do what generates the best outcomes. However, the theory is a bit complicated since one fails to understand that single principle unless he/she knows three things: a) what actions are good

or bad; b) whose good do we want; and c) whether actions or rules are made right or wrong by their actual outcomes i.e. the real results of our actions; or by their probable outcomes i.e. the results that we assume to occur based on the judgments.

We shall understand the concept of utilitarianism with an example of a pharmaceutical organization that launches a government permitted medicine with the accepted side effects; for the reason that the medicine is competent to relieve more number of people rather than the concerns of small side effects.

Act of utilitarianism explains “the end justifies the means”.

There are two categories of utilitarian principles followed: Rule utilitarianism and Act utilitarianism. Rule utilitarianism is practiced to do good to maximum people by implementing the best methods. Act utilitarianism believes in taking the most ethical actions to offer best advantage to people.

The two categories are explained in detail

Rule-utilitarianism -- This rule is used to establish the strength of rules of conduct. A rule of promise-keeping is set up by eye witnessing the two worlds: One, a world where people broke promises at will; second, the world in which promises were obligatory. Right and wrong are then defined as following or breaking those rules.

• A common criticism of this opinion disagrees on a point that it is possible to make "unjust rules" according to this rule. For instance, slavery in Greece may be considered right if it results to an overall success and happiness of citizens at the cost of some ill-treated

persons.
Act-utilitarianism -- The theory of utility is used directly to each substitute act in a condition of choice. The right act is then classified as the one which brings about the best consequences or reduces the effect of bad results.
• Disapproval of this view is engendered to the trouble of achieving full familiarity and certainly of the outcomes of our activities.
The main constraint of utilitarian theory is that it is difficult to achieve in the organization. People in general are trained to concentrate on self before others, making it difficult to practice utilitarianism. Nevertheless, a person can create the type of work surrounding that he/she wants for self by continual hard work and determination.