Every single theory shows different points such as predicting the outcome and following one's duties to others in order to reach an ethical decision. Peter calls Christians to embrace suffering for doing good note that what is good is certainly not equatable with what is pleasurable , because 'To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Utilitarianism is no more secular than other consequentialist views, and it's consistent with a lot of the big picture views in Scripture. London: Parker, Son, and Bourn, West Strand. Without love there is nothing.
The others are just personal prudential questions. Ethical Theory: A Concise Anthology. I myself find a virtue ethics approach to be the most appealing and Scriptural. It is the individual's choice. The full pdf can be viewed by. Christian Ethics, however, can be quite different.
I do get concerned, however, that the terminology and words we use to describe 'pleasure' as Christians in God are easily misinterpreted. The question of an ethical theory, then, is how does one know, love and serve God? Whatever makes people happy, whatever brings pleasure is a good thing, and what gives people pain is what we mean by evil. Though there are some deviations between Mill's and Bentham's version, both maintain the basic belief that people should act in such a way as to promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. But it would come down to specific factors - are they being penalized for their marriage in an inordinate way ie. For example, allow me to highlight some of the most scathing observations: Stating that he doubts Jewish people will ever become⦠Tzedakah Ministries occasionally receives threats from various fronts and sources see the third comment in the Genesis 12:1-3 post. He believed, for example, that some pleasures were of higher quality than others.
For Bentham, the goodness of actions is measured by the amount of pleasure they produce. You should maximize pleasure for the most people while minimizing pain. This remains a major criticism of virtue-based ethics Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. In order to judge the morality of an action, we have to know the results of the action we are about to take. One main problem is that utilitarianism, if adopted, justifies as morally appropriate things that are clearly immoral.
We have over 3000 religions on the planet now and some 30,000 sects, each with their own ideas about morality, some quite extreme such as Islamism. The situation does not determine what is right or wrong. But consequences are not what make the act right, as is the case with utilitarianism. The Christian perspective, however, makes this distinction between good and pleasure far more blurry. You will create lists⦠2738 Words 11 Pages Compare and Contrast Economic Market Systems In differentiating between market structures one has to compare and contrast public goods, private goods, common resources, and natural monopolies.
Mill, his father, on the other hand, was certainly. To determine whether an action is moral you merely have to calculate the good and bad consequences that will result from a particular action. Base your actions on the type of person you want to become. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham and his protegee, John Stuart Mill. That principle was employed when the three lifeboat survivors were tried and hanged for their cannibalism. Lets use the euthenasia example that involves killing disabled people who can't contribute to the capitalist system.
The right act is then defined as the one which brings about the best results or the least amount of bad results. In the meantime, as one reads through Scripture it is encouraging to learn of some cases where either the end justifies the means, or else where God has taken something bad and turned it into something good. Our selfsih desires become intwined in the moral calculus. In sum, according to utilitarianism, morality is a matter of the nonmoral good produced that results from moral actions and rules, and moral duty is instrumental, not intrinsic. For example, a doctor may have a duty to benefit a patient, and he or she may need to know what medical consequences would result from various treatments in order to determine what would and would not benefit the patient. The roots of utilitarianism can be seen, therefore, in ancient hedonistic philosophy, as developed by Democritus and Epicurus. The hope of utilitarianism is to bring a scientific method to decision making.
Christians could believe in both, I suppose. Utilitarianism is an ethical framework for effective moral action. Teleology suggests that the end always justifies the means, whereas deontology argues that the end does not justify the means. No other universal laws can be derived from this commandment to love. This is defensible and understandable, however, he is¬ left open to the attack that he is just not being a strict utilitarian, who should not be worried about harm when considering an action, even if it will bring about the same results, because it is pleasure that is to be maximised.