Utilitarianism
Essays

Two Clashing Views of the Human, Criminal Animal

Justice is an ambiguous term that refers to a sense of equality and 'fairness'. Social justice refers to the way in which this ideological term is put into practice. At its most basic level, social justice is the way in…

When the historic passage of legislation permitting medical marijuana use in states like Arizona (2010), Delaware (2011) and Massachusetts (2012) is considered in conjunction with the fact that 13 other states have similar legislation or ballot measures pending, the traditional conception of marijuana ingestion as a criminal act is being reexamined on a societal level. Further bolstering this assertion is the legal situation in California, Colorado and Washington, where marijuana has been decriminalized entirely and permitted for recreational sale by licensed dispensaries, providing the platform for a restoration of basic rights in these jurisdictions. With approximately half of the states in the union already affording citizens with medical needs the liberty to seek relief in the form of marijuana, while the federal government’s ostensible ban on the substance remains in effect, the stage has been set for a national debate over the merits of legalizing marijuana for medicinal use. After decades of misinformation concerning the alleged link between marijuana use and addiction to more destructive “hard” narcotics like cocaine, methamphetamine or heroin, the lengthy period of legalized medicinal marijuana use in several states has provided a wealth of statistical data focused explicitly on long-term marijuana users. The so-called “gateway theory” asserted that marijuana use provided the foundation for subsequent addictions to other banned substances, and was widely used as the basis for government campaigns intended to extend the era of marijuana criminalization – an era defined by the institutional refusal to recognize the utilitarian function of certain civil liberties. By comparing the rate of “hard” narcotic usage (as measured by arrest/conviction rates for cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin) in several states that currently permit medicinal marijuana use, the correlation between societal acceptance of marijuana and addiction to more serious substances can be statistically substantiated. As a control, states that have never permitted marijuana use of any kind on a legislative level will also be studied, in an effort to determine whether or not “hard” narcotic use in these jurisdictions is higher or lower than their more liberal counterparts.

¶ … Sustainable Development Compatible With Human Welfare?

Herbalife is a company selling herbal products for health and dietary purposes. In order to do this, the company recruits interested people to help them sell their products. The way in which this is done is however…

My question is whether there is a concept of free will and whether we can ever attain individuality, or whether lack of free will constrains us from ever achieving the individuality that we wish to achieve. On the one hand, we believe that we are gifted with the ability to choose happiness and liberty would we so wish and create ourselves into the individuals that we believe is necessary for our life's liberty and contentment. On the other hand, certain aspects seem beyond our control. Some are born handicapped and others in ghetto-like poverty. Still others are born in rigid, fundamentalist type backgrounds where they are indoctrinated and socialized in a certain type of thinking that causes them to perceive aspects in a certain way, to judges, a and act accordingly. The question can be extended to any and all, civilizations without going to the extremes of turning to religious or socialist regimes for illustration. After all, we all live in a hub of geo-historical circumstance that makes us revolve on a certain wheel and turn around with the fads and norms of the time.

Consider the three purposes of morality treated in Chapter 1. Which of these would it be easier for utilitarianism to fulfill and which could well be more difficult for that system to fully meet?

While there are dozens of international terrorist groups that operate globally, domestic terrorist in the United States between 1980 and 2010 focuses on less than 20 active groups. Domestic terrorism in the United States is so defined as not only acts that occurred in the US, but also by U.S. citizens. Most of these groups are considered to be militant extremists, such that 2/3 of terrorism in the United States was conducted by non-Islamic American extremists, and increased by 95% between 1980 and 2010

Machan's view is that libertarianism has a "moral superiority" over other political theories and practices - and hence, that reflects one of the pressing needs for this book to be written.

Utilitarianism, as a moral system, is basically one in which one creates a moral and ethical system based not in each specific action having an essential moral component in and of itself, but in terms of defining the…