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Utilitarianism
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What is Utilitarianism?

Utilitarianism is a moral and political philosophy holding that the right action is the one that produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. It appears frequently in government, political science, and philosophy courses because it offers a systematic framework for evaluating public policy, law, and individual conduct based on consequences rather than fixed rules. The theory raises genuinely difficult academic questions about how happiness is measured, whose interests count, and whether good outcomes can justify harmful means—tensions that make it a productive subject for rigorous analysis across disciplines.

The papers archived on this topic take several distinct approaches. Many are comparative, weighing utilitarianism against competing frameworks such as deontology and virtue ethics, or examining specific thinkers like John Stuart Mill alongside Kantian moral theory. Others apply utilitarian reasoning to concrete cases, including film scenarios such as Extreme Measures, to test how the theory performs under pressure. Additional essays engage normative ethics broadly, situating utilitarianism within larger debates about morality, rationality, and the obligations individuals have to society.

A strong essay on utilitarianism begins with a focused thesis that takes a clear position—either defending, critiquing, or qualifying the theory—rather than simply summarizing it. Evidence drawn from philosophical argument, real-world policy examples, or ethical case studies tends to carry the most weight. Writers should be careful to engage with the tension between individual rights and collective happiness, since ignoring this conflict produces a one-sided analysis. The most common pitfall is treating utilitarianism as a single, settled doctrine rather than acknowledging the meaningful differences among its variants.

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Paper Masters
Robert G. Edwards' in vitro fertilization and embryo personhood ethics
In 2010, developer of conception outside the human body technology, Robert G. Edwards, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (Kolata). This open act of global recognition might be perceived as general acclaim for assisted reproductive technologies, which secure biologically inapt couples' reproduction by producing genetically related children for infertile parents, in conditions external to the human body. The present work is aimed at providing an insight into in vitro fertilization, dealing with the ethical aspects relevant to it with a special focus on personhood, and adopting an ethical stance regarding the extent to which this practice is permissible.
Paper High School
H.L.A. Hart's critique of strict legal positivism and modern moral overlap
HLA Hart and Modern Legal Positivism H.L.A. Hart is a famous legal thinker who examined Positivism and Utilitarianism. Hart is noted for thoughts that modernized the thinking of positivists and specifically utilitarians. The key concept of "Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals" is that sometimes law intersects with morality. For example, until people become like giant land crabs with shells that cannot be penetrated and who can get their food from the air and not be harmed by others, there must be laws against violence and setting basic property rights. Hart believes that those laws "intersect" with morality and every legal system has laws like that. Hart believes that the old positivists, who saw law that is completely separate from law that ought to be, were mistaken. Hart also specifically examined the Utilitarianism of Austin and Bentham. Austin and Bentham were both Utilitarians. They believed in no connection between the law that is and the law that ought to be and that it is only a coincidence if legal rights and moral rights are connected. At the same time: Austin believed that if a human law conflicts with divine law, then the human law is not really a law and does not need to be obeyed; Bentham believed the same thing but did not use God or the divine; he used utilitarian principles instead. Because they were Utilitarians, Austin and Bentham believed in a social philosophy of liberalism in law and government, reform, and control of power because even reformers might corrupt the law. Hart admired the simplicity of Austin and Bentham but disagreed with the severe way they separated the law that is from the law that ought to be. Hart says that sometimes there is an intersection between laws and morals. Hart also criticizes their belief that law is essentially a command from a sovereign that is habitually obeyed because they can command obedience but do not need to obey. Hart says that the law does not work that way: legislators do not hold office long enough to be habitually obeyed sovereigns; the laws passed by the legislature must still obey fundamental rules.
Paper Undergraduate
Ethical analysis of transplant care for undocumented immigrant children
The study is based on the ethical analysis of a scenario which developed during the Bush administration. The paper has described the ethical issues that emerged during that time and what ethical decision making was required to take in order to tackle that issue. The case that is chosen to conduct the ethical analysis is of New York State health officials. The federal government had ordered the hospital officials the chemotherapy which is covered by the federal government under a financial aid program is not applicable for the immigrants. This position taken by the federal government started a great battle between the state government and the federal government in terms of defining medical urgencies and emergencies. By critically analyzing the situation and the knowledge based on ethical theories, a solution to the ethical problem would be made.
Essay Doctorate
How partisan bias undermines the media's watchdog responsibility
There was a point in the not-too-distant past when it was reasonable to perceive the media as a force collectively aimed at informing the public, exposing corruption, surfacing scandal and general performing the…
Paper Masters
Immigration and amnesty in the United States: ethics and social responsibility
Immigration and Amnesty in the United States
Paper Doctorate
Deontology and utilitarianism in employee ethical training programs
Ethical theories are the foundations used for ethical analysis as they provide different viewpoints that a person can receive guidance in order to reach an ethical decision. The theories emphasize different viewpoints…
Paper Undergraduate
Virtue and utilitarian ethics in custody dispute resolution
Two individuals, both married and addicted to drugs, are unable to care for their infant daughter. Because of their addiction, the child was taken from them by Court order and placed in foster care.
Research Paper Doctorate
Police abuse and accountability barriers in the United States
Police abuse remains one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the United States. The excessive use of force by police officers, including unjustified shootings, severe beatings, fatal chokings,…
Paper Masters
Utilitarian ethics and the Ellsworth email privacy case
Utilitarian ethics proposes that actions are considered right or wrong according to the greatest amount of people that they help and/ or make happy. The two foremost pioneers of the theory were Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill although Utilitarianism, in some form, always existed started off with hedonism and Aristotle (each of whom advocated different forms of eudemonia/ contentment/ happiness).
Paper Masters
Utilitarian moral philosophy and the justification of moral sacrifice
Utilitarianism is a philosophy that asserts whatever brings the most happiness to the most people is the right choice when moral choices are at hand. This paper examines the question of whether a moral sacrifice (which some philosophers and scholars insist is necessary)can be justified. The position of the paper is that a moral sacrifice may be necessary in some situations, but one need not sacrifice one's future just to satisfy another person's concept of morality.