Should our moral beliefs be based on the utilitarian principle of securing the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people?

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Business Ethics Assignment

-- Introduction --

Should our moral beliefs be based on the utilitarian principle of securing the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people? In order to answer the question above, first of all it is necessary to clarify what utilitarian principle is. The utilitarian principle is one of many theories to answer the ethical nature of human being. Being of the most influential western philosophy thoughts, the utilitarian approach is defined as an ethical theory that holds that an action is right if it produces, or if it tends to produce, the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people affected by the action. Otherwise the action is wrong. (Business Ethics 1999) Utilitarianism is a philosophy which has been around for centuries, and is still active and popular in the modern world. It is important not only in philosophy itself, but also in areas such as economics, politics, and even people’s daily life. To some people, Utilitarianism seems to be the only ethical philosophy which is obviously correct. To others, it seems to be quite misconceived, even wrong. There have been many arguments raised about the utilitarian principle, amongst them, one of the most famous and influential theory, which is a contrasting thought to utilitarian, is argued by Kant, saying that the basic moral values should be applied universally, and the principle is that one will act in the way he expects everyone else to act. Should our moral beliefs be based on the utilitarian principle, or Kant’s or the others? How has utilitarian principle been applied and what are the problems and critics of utilitarian view?

-- Main Body --

According to the definition, the utilitarian theory is an ethical theory that holds that an action is right if it produces, or if it tends to produce, the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people affected by the action. Otherwise the action is wrong. (Business Ethics 1999) To put this more simply, it is a moral principle that when a course of action produces greatest balance of benefits over harms for everybody that are affected. Then this action is morally right, otherwise, it is wrong. Therefore, utilitarianism focuses on the consequences of the course of action, rather than the process, and how the action is done. As a result, whether the good or benefits are produces by lies, manipulation and so on, will not be taken into account.

Many people often use this moral principle in making daily decisions. When people are asked to explain why they feel that they have a moral duty to make a decision, or perform some action, it is often been answered as they pointed out that there will be benefit come out from it, or the harm can be prevented. Business managers, governors, as well as the other professionals also use this theory when they are making decisions, for example, whether to employ new staff, whether to ban smoking in public places, or whether to invest in a new market. It is clear that utilitarian principle is used widely and related closely to people’s daily life. Before make a decision, people always weigh between positive or good outcomes and negative or bad outcomes, and more likely, the decision will be the one which will produce more positive outcomes. According to utilitarianism, if the good consequence is overall greater, then the decision is morally right. Otherwise it is morally wrong. It is natural for a person to focus his goals on things that will bring him happiness and pleasure, or at least less harm.

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The utilitarian principle is applied everywhere in people’s life. For example, a university student doesn’t attend a lecture. The reason is that he has got something personally and important to do. The consequence of this action is that provides convenience for the student, and nobody else is affected negatively. Another example could be many people download software, music, or movie from internet, for free or very small amount of money, and those downloaded contents are illegal. However, there are still many people who buy legal software, cds, and go to cinemas. It seems that those companies owning the copyright are ...

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