What are the advantages of utilitarianism? Identify the main problems of utilitarianism

The first 200 words of this essay...

What are the advantages of utilitarianism? Identify the main problems of utilitarianism. (21)

To what extent do these problems make utilitarianism unacceptable? (9)

Utilitarianism comes from the Latin word "utilis" meaning useful. This is in the terms of greatest good for the greatest number of people. It is a consequential argument as well as an instrumental morality. Which means that no act is intrinsically good or bad? Utilitarianism is the complete opposite to absolutism which believes that all acts should be judged the same. In utilitarianism the act is judged on whether or not the consequence of the act is good. The argument is secular, meaning it has nothing to do with God. The purpose of morality is to make the world a better place. Morality is about producing good consequences, not having good intentions

The origins of utilitarianism begin with the age of reason (sometimes known as the age of enlightenment). This was the time when science and secularism were embraced and religion and theology were set aside. Next there was the French revolution in which the masses of France rose up to destroy the aristocracy that was forcing them to work for their own ends.