Ethics Utilitarianism Is One of the Most

Ethics

Utilitarianism is one of the most useful ethical theories. It can frame decisions made in almost every aspect of daily life, and also large-scale decisions made by organizations, enterprises, and governments. The basic principles of utilitarianism, as they were developed first by Jeremy Bentham and later by John Stuart Mill, are all based in the essential notion of utility. Utility means usefulness, but it is also related to net benefit.

Utility is defined in terms of the question, "Is this action beneficial? If so, who is it beneficial for, and how beneficial is it?" Utilitarian theory suggests that an ethical decision should weigh the greatest good for the greatest number of people. If an action is beneficial, it should be beneficial to the greatest number of stakeholders. It should be the decision that most maximizes the target population's happiness, or however success is being measured. This end result can be profit, as in the realm of business, or it can be actual happiness created measurable by self-report.

Of course, applying utilitarian ethics means that some people will fare better than others. Utilitarianism seems democratic but it can too easily become a tyranny of the majority. John Stuart Mill argued that democracies are especially prone to the "tyranny of the majority" precisely because they apply utilitarian ethics. The greatest good for the greatest number of people means that the smallest number of people will unfortunately not be experiencing their definition of success or happiness. However, there is no reasonable way of making every single human being happy. Utilitarianism is a very practical ethical theory because it recognizes that not all human beings can be happy with the same things. It is good enough to make decisions that maximize happiness for as many people as possible.

Utilitarianism also encourages a complete analysis and assessment of any given situation. This means that the person making the ethical decision cannot be narrow-minded and must weigh all possible scenarios. The person making ethical decisions thinks about other people, and might even make a decision that maximizes the benefit to others and sacrifices the benefit to the self. If the self is in the minority of people that would not benefit, then it would still be considered utilitarian and ethical to go ahead with whatever action does maximize utility. By the same token, it is also important to think in terms of long-term gains as well as short-term benefits. As the professor in the "Ethics 5" video on utilitarianism points out, an action is only considered to be of maximum benefit when all consequences are weighed. This means understanding the long-term repercussions, and weighing them against short-term gains. In the end, there should be only one correct course of action. After all the issues and variables are analyzed, the one correct course of action is the one that produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people.