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The strengths and weaknesses of utilitarianism
- Essay length: 1049 words
- Submitted: 20/03/2012
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Marked by teacher:
David Moss
Teacher essay summary
2/5
The student makes lots of accurate and good points in this essay and describes utilitarianism for the most part correctly (with the exception of the second question where a number of mistakes are made). Unfortunately the student does not answer either of the questions that have been set. In consequence almost everything that has been written is irrelevant.
Marked by teacher David Moss 31/03/2012
The first 200 words of this essay...
(i) What are the main advantages of utilitarianism? (21 marks)
(ii) Identify the main problems of utilitarianism. To what extent do these make utilitarianism unacceptable? (9)
Utilitarianism was developed by Jeremy Bentham and is a modern form of the hedonistic ethical theory which teaches that the end of human conduct is happiness, and that consequently the discrimination norm which distinguishes conduct into right and wrong pleasure and pain. The aforementioned Bentham lived in era of great social and scientific change and unrest. He therefore, because of his social surroundings developed a theory that stated that right actions are those who produce the most pleasure for everyone affected and wrong actions consequently are those who do not. He coined the phrase "the greatest good for the greatest number" which summarises his aim which was to iron out the deep inequalities of his time.
Bentham being a hedonist believed that all humans naturally pursued pleasure and conversely avoids pain. To measure this pain and pleasure, Bentham created the 'hedonic calculus' which weighs up the pleasure and pain which might arise from moral actions to decide the best option. The formula should determine which act has the best tendency and
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MbT essay summary
2/5
The student makes lots of accurate and good points in this essay and describes utilitarianism for the most part correctly (with the exception of the second question where a number of mistakes are made). Unfortunately the student does not answer either of the questions that have been set. In consequence almost everything that has been written is irrelevant.
