What are the advantages of utilitarianism? Identify the main problems of utilitarianism. To what extent do these make utilitarianism unacceptable?

The first 200 words of this essay...

What are the advantages of utilitarianism? Identify the main problems of utilitarianism. To what extent do these make utilitarianism unacceptable?

The ethical theory of Utilitarianism, derived from the word Utility was developed by Jeremy Bentham in the nineteenth-century who aspired to establish a universal theory which could be applied to all ethical situations. It is a teleological theory of ethics, which says that the moral value of any action can be solely judged by the most probable consequences of the action. It does not take into account motives or the intrinsic rightness of any action. This principle claims that an action should be chosen by way of it usefulness to a situation or 'The greatest good for the greatest number'. Bentham argued that the potential usefulness ('Good' or 'Pleasure') of a situation could be 'calculated' in order to reach correct decisions within ethical situations, that would lead to the greater number of persons receiving the largest amounts of pleasure. He proposed the Hedonic Calculus which took into consideration the intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity and extent of any given action in an ethical situation. It was John Stuart Mill who argued that there are different levels of happiness,