philosophy essay 6-8 pages

a. Corollary (1a): No action is good or bad in itself, no matter how appalling, heinous, abhorrent, or ridiculous it may seem.

b. Corollary (1b): No individual has absolute inalienable rights. This means that no individual has intrinsic worth.

2) The principle of utility (or the principle of utilitarianism) – an action (or a law) is good when it increases utility and bad if it does not. A completely good act maximizes utility.

a. Explanation: utility is the sum of happiness in all people in a social system. Happiness might be defined in terms of pleasure, welfare, or preferences. Thus the principle of utility may be restated as follows: 1) an action is good to the extent that performing that action maximizes happiness; or, 2) an action is good to the extent that performing that action maximizes pleasure; or, 3) an action is good to the extent that performing that action maximizes welfare; and 4) action is good to the extent that performing that action maximizes preferences.

b. Corollary (2a): Although nothing has intrinsic worth or value (1b), persons and things have instrumental value if they contribute to the system of increasing utility. Persons and things have positive value if they increase utility and a negative value if they decrease utility. If we think of utility in terms of satisfied preferences, then a thing has positive value if it satisfies someone, no value if it neither satisfies nor distresses someone, and a negative if it distresses someone. The cumulative effect of these satisfactions and distresses is its total value.

3) The principle of equality (also called the principle of equal consideration of interests) – “Each counts for one and none for more than one.” – Jeremy Bentham

a. Explanation: In calculating the total effect of an action, no person’s utility can count for more than that of another, and no person’s utility may be left out of account.

4) Omission is commission – One is morally responsible whenever one intentionally impacts a result, whether that impact is due to intentionally initiating the result or to intentionally refusing to prevent the result when one had the power to stop it.

a. Since the only thing that matters is the result in the real state of affairs, it makes no difference if the resulting situation is the effect of one’s action or of one’s inaction.