Bentham’s Act Utilitarianism can be used in making

Explain how Benthams human activity Utilitarianism can be used in making moral decisions BY AltceReid20 Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher, economist, atheist and affectionate reformer. organism a social reformer means that Bentham worked to make a gradual change to monastic order. Being an economist meant that he had knowledge in the social science and discipline of economics. Bentham was a philosopher because he examine ways of thinking about the world. This all had an impact on the way his ideas were influenced. He developed the possible achieve known as Act Utilitarianism.His version of Utilitarianism is referred to as Act Utilitarianism because it states that the principle of utility should be applied to every act performed in each unique situation. Any act is Justifiable if it produces the superlative amount of gratification for the greatest number. By the principle of utility Bentham meant the usefulness of a situation. The principle states that we should aim to achieve the greatest rejoicing for the greatest number. Act Utilitarianism depends on each action or each individual dilemma world calculated.According to Act Utilitarianism it is the value of the consequences of the particular act that counts. In 1789 he wrote the book An Introduction to the principle of morals and legislation He believed our main aim in life was to achieve enjoyment and to avoid pain, he fatalityed to break in this to society to maximise the amount of felicity produced in certain situations. His theory was made to drive a human being pain v cheer. As people are motivated by pleasure and pain is considered evil. As stated in his book Nature has placed mankind under the ecesis of to sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.Jeremy Benthams theory is considered as relativistic this means that here are no oecumenical norms or rules and that each situation has to be looked at independently because each situation is different. It is also thought of as a teleological theo ry. This means that it is concerned with the end purpose or goal of an action in this case it should always be happiness. Benthams theory was also considered to be consequentialist this means that moral decisions should be based on the outcome or consequences of an action. Bentham felt that society needed a form of complex body part for making moral decisions influencing him to introduce ActUtilitarianism to help treat each moral decision as unique. He was very concerned with the social conditions of his day, becoming particularly involved with both hospitals and prisons. He also believed in womens vote and the decriminalisation of homosexuality. He developed the principle of utility in his theory which states that an action is rightfield if it produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number. He had strong beliefs of maximising the quantity of happiness he was not concerned about prioritising which form of happiness were superior to others. Bentham wrote in theRationale of Reward Prejudice apart, the game of push-pin is pit of value with the arts of sciences of music and poetry. Benthams position was that all pleasures are of equal value. From this he devised the indulgent potassium bitartrate as a means of standard happiness. Hedone meaning pleasure. There are 7 parts of the hedonic densification being intensity, duration, certainty, remoteness, richness and purity which all link to measuring the amount of happiness that a certain situation go out produce. An example be applied by using the hedonic calculus to help limit whether it is virtuously right.A scenario, of a 16 year old daughter called Katy wants an stillbirth because she doesnt want to have a baby. However, her parents are Christians and do not agree with her having an spontaneous abortion. Abortion is thought of as an ethical issue because people argue whether it is right or wrong. As Benthams theory is concequentialist all Judgements made should be based on the outcome. Using the hedonic calculus can measure/estimate the amount of happiness that pass on be produced. To decide upon the action taken on abortion the intensity of happiness go away be produced.In this scenario, the strength of the happiness of the girl, the parents and society will be taken into to help provide the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people. The duration of the happiness will also be taken into account, to measure how long the happiness will last for. In this case, how long will the happiness of the girl last if she has an abortion? The certainty of the situation will be measured to determine whether happiness is guaranteed to be produced. Will having an abortion actually produce happiness for Katy and her parents?The extent of the happiness will be evaluated to decide how many people it will effect. In this example, will it affect her parents and society more(prenominal) than itll effect her if she has an abortion? The remoteness of abortion will be checked to determine how soon the happiness will occur. It will be debated whether having an abortion will immediately make the girl happy straight away and/ or in the future. This links to the richness of a situation evaluating how much happiness it whitethorn produce in the future. In this case, will abortion still provide the girl ith happiness in the future? r will it affect her family and society more so? Again, this links with the purity of the situation which is the decision of whether it will provide unhappiness in the future. Will abortion cause unhappiness for the girl, her family and society. As you can depend the hedonic calculus works towards bringing the greatest happiness to the greatest amount of people measuring the quality of happiness not the quantity. In this example, the hedonic calculus would help to decide whether abortion is morally right helping to make moral decisions.The edonic calculus helps you to weigh out what is morally right in a situation giving an objective view reducing opinions and biased options. It takes multiple choices into account excluding religion. In this case, the hedonic calculus would decide that is morally right for Katy to have an abortion. The hedonic calculus would conclude this because society may think that 16 is too young to have a baby which would provide them with more overall happiness of the girl having an abortion. However, having the abortion may cause unhappiness for her family but forgiveness is in the heart ofChristians, if they understand that having an abortion will create a very high amount of happiness for Katy and many people of society may agree with her having an abortion it outweighs the unhappiness of the parents. If Katy was to follow through with her abortion it would provide her more happiness in the meanwhile and future as having a baby may affect multiple aspects of her life. As you can see the hedonic calculus works towards bringing happiness to the greatest amount of people theref ore supporting Benthams beliefs and following Act Utilitarianism.