Utilitarianism and deontology compared through television and film

Ethics and Morality: Utilitarianism, Deontology, And Rights Ethics Principles

Dramatized Example of Utilitarianism

At some point in the popular investigative TV show 24, Jack Bauer, an influential counterterrorism officer, questions terrorist Syed Ali, seeking to get him to reveal the location of a nuclear bomb that has been set to detonate in Los Angeles. Ali, however, is reluctant to cooperate, and Bauer, who unfortunately does not have the pleasure of time, orders his officers to kill the elder one of Ali's two sons and threatens to kill the younger one if Ali still does not cooperate. In a bid to save his son, Ali reveals the weapon's location, and Bauer's men get to neutralize it just in time to save Los Angeles. Bauer's action spurs a heated debate, and even Supreme Court officials find themselves divided. The question on everyone's mind is - should Jack Bauer be convicted for killing Ali's son in order to save Los Angeles?

In the principle of utilitarianism, it is the consequences of an action that determine its morality (Conway & Gawronski, 2013). To this end, "harming others is acceptable if it increases the well-being of a greater number of people" (Conway & Gawronski, 2013, p. 216). In the above case, Bauer's action is a perfect demonstration of utilitarianism; killing Ali's son would obviously cause him pain, but the fact that the lives of millions of Americans would be saved surpassed that pain. Bentham's utility principle, asserts that as long as an action "equates good with pleasure and evil with pain," it is moral (CMU, 2002). In the eyes of most Americans, Ali deserved the pain; the death of his son was some form of compensation for the evil he had planned against millions of Americans, and since Bauer's action gave them the pleasure of seeing Ali pay for his evil deeds, it was in every sense moral.

Real Life Example of Violation of Rights Ethics Principles

A New York Times article titled 'Iraq is a Pediatrician Hell: No Way to Stop the Dying' focuses on the problems faced by sick Iraqi children. Sanctions imposed by the UN almost a decade ago have left the country's medical system literally paralyzed. Hospitals are unable to obtain the medical supplies and equipment needed to handle even the most easily curable of diseases. This is to mean that almost all children suffering from the more complicated ailments, like leukemia, die. An example is given where Isra Ahmed, a three-year-old with leukemia, dies after bleeding profusely from her rectum, gums, and nose, as her doctors watched helplessly. Dr. Mazin Jasim admits that the facility lacks the kind of equipment needed for Ahmed's treatment. He expresses that back in the day; Iraq was the best country in Asia with regard to medicine and science, but that thanks to the embargo, practitioners therein did not even have access to medical journals. Dr. Mazin recalls sometime between April and June 1998, when 75 children under his watch succumbed to gastroenteritis and chest infections; yet they all could have been saved had the right antibiotics been advanced.

If the sanctions imposed on Iraq by the UN are responsible for the conditions outlined in the article above, then the UN has undoubtedly violated three fundamental principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Westside Toast Masters, n.d.). Like any other child in the world, Iraqi children are entitled to the right to life and are supposed to enjoy this right in equal capacity with other children. The UN, to this end, violated; i) the principle that "everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person," and ii) the principle that "all humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights" (Westside Toast Masters, n.d.). Denying people, especially innocent children who have nothing to do with the actions of their governments, the aforementioned rights amounts, in every sense, to inhumane treatment; which means that the UN additionally violated the principle that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment" (Westside Toast Masters, n.d).