Utilitarianism Essay Essay Example for Free

Utilitarianism Essay Essay John Stuart Mill, a philosopher and political economist, is known today as one of the most influential sponsors for Utilitarianism. His moral theory tends to go along with a â€Å"Utilitarian rubric† (Fitzpatrick, 2006) and thus holds that the theory is based on how to define right and wrong in terms of happiness. For Mill, â€Å"actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness† (J. S Mill, 1861, pg. 9). If happiness, for Mill at least, is pleasure, then it is also the absence of pain. Although this can be seen as a hedonistic approach, Mill supports the idea of different levels for pleasure. In his essay Utilitarianism, Mill draws a comparison for human and swine pleasure; he argues that if the pleasures were to be the same, then â€Å"the rule of life which is good enough for one would be good enough for the other. † Clearly man is more advanced than pigs and therefore, in Mill’s opinion, we must conduct ourselves in such a way that reflects how we rank happiness; as more advanced beings, Mill believes that we must place a higher importance on â€Å"mental over bodily pleasures† (J. S. Mill, 1861). Utilitarianism Like any philosophical approach to ethics, Utilitarianism is simply attempting to explain where the boundaries of â€Å"good† and â€Å"evil† lie. The name utilitarianism is stemmed from the idea of utility and usefulness; in terms of utilitarianism, an act is good or morally right if it brings about a desired result, which deems it useful for the greater good (Wilkens 2011). If happiness is good, then the â€Å"desired result† should be happiness because, by definition, happiness is good in itself. This can easily be seen as a circular argument, but a Utilitarian, such as Mill, phrases this 2 Utilitarianism Essay 3 idea as â€Å"we ought to because we do. † Humans naturally want to attain or be in a state of happiness, which is taken as proof that the pursuit of happiness must not be evil. Utilitarianism is also distinguished by impartiality and agent-neutrality. Everyones happiness counts the same, which means that we are obliged to think of the well being of everyone who would be impacted by any decisions made (Wilkens, 2011). When one maximizes the good, it is the good objectively considered; if happiness will be rewarded to the majority of a population, then it is good to give it to them even if it causes pain to the individual. Quantitative and Qualitative Jeremy Bentham, fellow philosopher of Mill, aimed to make a way to quantify the results of any ethical decision. He coined the method of â€Å"hedonistic calculus† in which he tried to measure objectively how much happiness could be produced from an ethical decision (Wilkens, 2011). In his process, Bentham divides happiness into several categories and adds up how much happiness is created from within each of the categories; the category with the highest ranking would be the ethical choice. John Stuart Mill focused his version of utilitarianism to stress the qualitative characteristics of happiness rather than the amount of it as Bentham did. Mill’s main objection was that there are different levels of desire – of happiness – that hold different levels of importance, and must therefore be weighed according to that level. He argued that it was not possible to measure happiness or the quality of it, hence deeming Bentham’s calculus of felicity a problem. Though the two differ on many aspects, Bentham and Mill agree that pleasure for the greater good is better than pleasure for only an individual, making happiness fundamentally good (Shaw, 2008). All utilitarian thought has been based on past experience and learning from the consequences of those decisions. 3 Utilitarianism Essay 3 Mill’s Approach: A Critique The utilitarian view has attracted so many supporters because of its ability to link happiness to good; it would be next to impossible to argue that happiness is bad for humanity. Unfortunately, utilitarianism creates an â€Å"ethical limbo† in a sense that we can never know the results of a decision to be good or bad because consequences can only be seen in the future (Wilkens, 2011). It would be impossible to make a standard of judgment based on consequences with Mill’s approach to utilitarianism because we would never truly know the full extent of the consequences of any given action. In Theory Cancer in its various forms has taken the lives of millions all over the world already, and it is unknown how many more will also die prematurely from this disease. Let’s pretend that in the future, doctors discover a genetic mutation only present in an unborn baby (that is, still in the womb) that has the potential to cure cancer. The doctors also know that this baby will be born with many physical mutations that would hinder him in life, causing him unavoidable unhappiness. If the doctors harvest the baby’s DNA, they would need to kill the baby before it is born. But, if the baby is left to live his life, he will later go on and find the cure for HIV, AIDS, and other terminal illness; which would be the ethical choice? For a utilitarian, the choice would be simple: the happiness of the majority (which would be those currently suffering from cancer) outweighs that of the baby, his family, and those suffering from terminal illnesses in the future. One death now is better, or happier, than millions 4 Utilitarianism Essay 3 of deaths in the future. This situation critiques utilitarianism in its inability to fully comprehend the consequences of a decision; it should be deemed unethical to kill a baby, yet to a utilitarian it would be acceptable if it served a purpose even before its birth. 5 Utilitarianism Essay 3 References Mill, J. S. (1861). Utilitarianism. Raleigh, N. C. : Alex Catalogue. Fitzpatrick, J. R. (2006). John Stuart Mills Political Philosophy: Balancing Freedom and the Collective Good. London, GBR: Continuum International Publishing. Retrieved from http://www. ebrary. com from http://site. ebrary. com. library. gcu. edu:2048/lib/grandcanyon/reader. action? ppg=10docID=10224803tm=1414980113298 Wilkens, Steve. (2011). Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics: An Introduction to Theories of Right and Wrong. Downers Grove, IL. Shaw, W. H. (2008). Utilitarianism. In R. W. Kolb (Ed. ), Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society (Vol. 5, pp. 2158-2162). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Retrieved from http://go. galegroup. com. library. gcu. edu:2048/ps/i. do? id=GALE %7CCX2660400848v=2. 1u=canyonunivit=rp=GVRLsw=wasid=83325aac55 e64da1ad4e917fe0af0cbb.

the 5 pillars of islam Essay -- essays research papers

Five Pillars of Islam   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to follow the right path in the Islam religion its followers, Muslims, are required to practice its five pillars, or duties. Each of these duties is mentioned in the Quran; however, scholars have found a more detailed explanation in the Hadith. The five pillars are uttering the Shahada, prayer, zakat, participating in the fast, and a pilgrimage to Mecca.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first of the five duties is uttering the Shahada, a phrase that declares the faith of the follower. The phrase is, â€Å"There is no god but God and Muhammad is His messenger.† This phrase is used in the daily life of Islam’s followers, because this phrase illustrates the central beliefs in the Islam faith.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second ritual duty is prayer. Muslims are obligated to pray five times each day. The prayer sessions must take place at designated times of the day and following the proper procedures. These designated times are at dawn, midday, in the afternoon, during the evening, and at sunset. Before prayer begins Islam’s followers must cleanse themselves both physically and mentally to achieve the purity required to engage in prayer. Prayer also must follow a cycle. Takbir is the first step in the cycle. This step is the opening sutra which means that the follower says, â€Å"Allahu akbar,† which mean â€Å"God is great.† At this point the worshiper will perform four postures, standing, bowing, postrating, and sitting...

Comarch Business Model

The customers in this group are: Heinlein, Scrabbles, Renault, Naive, Coca-cola, Red Bull and more. Government: This unit provides a wide variety of solutions to different kind of customers from the Public Sector. The list of customers includes: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, The National Bank of Poland, Albanian State Police and more. ERP: The unit is dedicated to developing and implementing intuitive software solutions to help Seems optimize their business processes.Companies that use Compare's ERP systems are: Coca-cola, Neonate, Yves Richer, T- Comanche AS develops and delivers products and services specifically targeted at their groups of customers. Telecommunications: The products developed for electrification aim at increase the revenue of the companies and build strong relations with customers' clients and business partners. This portfolio of products is vast and goes from Customer, Revenue and Product Management to Application Integration Infrastr ucture.The main products developed for this sector are: Comanche Corporate Self Care: provides online ordering, data management and reporting for corporate customers; Comanche Central Product Management: simplifies IT architecture and speeds up new product launches by providing a single place for managing the product catalogue and product lifestyle. Comanche Service Quality Management: it gathers network, application and service statistics, aggregates it and presents it against service models.Finance: The products in the finance sector are evolving every year in order to accommodate the needs of the customers. Some of the products created are: Comanche credit process management: it is a system that supports transaction processing as well as the application approval, security valuation, customer risk assessment and credit approval. Comanche mobile insurance advisor: it covers the whole sales process – from identification of the customer and needs analysis through emulations an d quotations, investment advisory, to generation and signing of the proposal.Services: This specific set of products provides advanced IT solutions in order to boost a company's performance. The list of products comprises the following software and solutions: Comanche Enterprise Marketing Management: it provides customer-oriented companies with the ability to plan, execute and track cross- channel campaigns and to build attractive loyalty programs to engage customers by delivering highly relevant offers that encourage them to buy more and more.Comanche SEA: it offers IT solutions for the management of sales support and the work f sales representatives, integration solutions and services to communicate with business partners, as well as on-line Web applications for managing sales and trade marketing and business communication with contractors. Government: in this area Comanche specializes in the design, implementation and integration of advanced IT solutions for state administration offices, local government and the utilities supply market.Some of the software developed are: Comanche Gerri: this is a modern Polish ERP system for organization management which is adapted to the needs and requirements of public administration. It offers budgetary reporting facilities including budgetary accounting forms in printable or electronic versions. Public Electronic Service Platform: it is a portal solution aimed at public administration, local government, and fully and partly nationalized companies.The solution aims to ease procedures for clients of government agencies by making a wide range of Internet solutions available to them so that they can conduct their affairs without having to go in person to the offices concerned. ERP: this area of development of products is the flagship of Comanche. The software ND scalable to the unique needs of each company and industry. The signature software is called Comanche ALEUT. Comanche ALEUT: is a state-of-the-art management softwar e system which represents the end result of seventeen years of experience developing some of the most innovative IT solutions available worldwide.The software is designed to save the time of customers, reduce their costs, enable a streamline communication between departments, and to arm them with easy- to-use- reports for successful decision-making. The value proposition of the company and the features that make Comanche AS be unique in the market are various. They focus on the customer satisfaction and excellence in the products and services delivered. Comanche,in order to satisfy the requests of their clients, implements projects within the defined budget and schedule.The Polish company, with almost 20 years of industry experience, is able to understand the business and technological needs of their customers developing the best solutions for them. One of the key features of the products is the faster implementation and easier integration, reducing the risk level of each project. T he solutions developed are easily configurable and will develop along with the client's business. The adaptation of the products to the customers' needs makes Comanche be a reliable long-term partner.

The Constitution Of The United States - 1007 Words

The United States of America has previously experienced failure every now and then. With trial and error, the country has learned to correct its ways and move toward(s) perfecting itself. Realizing the ineffectiveness of the Articles of Confederation is a prime example of the U.S. learning how to better itself. Subsequent to the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution of the United States was set as our new and improved framework of government. Possessing knowledge on how America, although strong, is still progressing, the U.S. Constitution holds certain ways allowing the United States government to adapt to changes over time. Judicial review and the Elastic Clause are crucial principles of the document that permit America to do so.†¦show more content†¦Using the power to dub a law void makes room for change. If a law was passed due to it seeming fit during its time, but no longer has the same effectiveness later on, judicial review gives Supreme Court the ability to tak e it out of effect. Therefore, the U.S. would then adapt to modern day more than it already has through the removal of a law. This action originates from the first time a chief justice ruled an act of another branch unconstitutional. In the 1803 Marbury v. Madison case, Chief Justice John Marshall announced that Congress acted outside the bounds of its constitutional power. The circumstances that were deemed to be short of following procedural rules was, James Madison did not send commission to William Marbury, who had been appointed Justice of the Peace. This was a result of a President in a lame-duck session, where he or she has little time left in office and proceeds to enact what they desire with hardly any worry of retribution. Chief Justice John Marshall greatly contributed to U.S. history with his actions, and led to the ratification of judicial review. In more recent cases, Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, 1966, a woman by the name of Annie Harper was prohibited from voting in a state election due to the inability to pay a poll tax. The fourteenth amendment guarantees your right to vote, which Harper claims was violated in her situation. She