Utilitarianism A Moral Theory - 1885 Words

Utilitarianism can be defined as a moral theory that is generally considered to have been founded by Jeremy Bentham who was a 19th century English philosopher and social reformer whom the panopticon is also attributed to. At the center of utilitarianism is happiness, which is in fact the ultimate goal of all human beings. To be happy and promote happiness. According to classical utilitarianism, when a person wants to act in an ethical way, he or she should strive to bring about the greatest possible amount of happiness for the greatest possible amount of people. This idea is known the greatest happiness principle. A similar idea is that a person should always strive, if incapable of producing happiness, to reduce unhappiness. These ideas†¦show more content†¦In the examples mentioned, your personal relationships are of no importance- it does not matter how close you are to either party. The right thing to do would still be to mow the lawn for your sick family member. In Charles Darwin’s, The Descent of Man, he says that, The moral sense perhaps affords the best and highest distinction between man and the lower animals; but I need say nothing on this head, as I have so lately endeavoured to shew that the social instincts- the prime principle of man’s moral constitution with the aid of active intellectual powers and the effects of habit, naturally lead to the golden rule, â€Å"As ye would that men should do to you, do ye to them likewise†; and this lies at the foundation of morality. Upon reading this it is apparent that morality is intertwined in every aspect of our lives and nature from the smallest rabbit to the tallest human. The excerpt shows an understanding that morality is not just what is pleasurable, as utilitarianism suggests, but it also has to do with how we treat each other to attain the highest good possible for the greatest number of people possible. In the case of the sick family member, we’d feel good doing it, we’d hope they or someone else would do the same for us, and thus are treating someone the way we want to be treated. Ethics and its subsets intersect upon one another forming a beautiful union to show us that pleasure and happiness are