Utilitarianism theory

Utilitarianism theory

Introduction

Ethics is mostly concerned with what is right for an individual and society. Most of the ethics concepts are derived from philosophies and cultures. Individuals from all walks of life have trouble making the right decision while they are in critical situations. A moral dilemma arises when a moral agent or individual believes in ethical principles that entail inconsistent actions. Ethical laws do not override each other. It is challenging for a moral agent to perform all activities that are involved in a moral principle. When deciding while in an ethical dilemma, various arguments have been established since they already exist. The arguments include moral residue argument, the plurality of values arguments, and the symmetry arguments.  The utilitarianism theory of ethics is consistent with ethical dilemmas. The utilitarianism theory allows for circumstances whereby the courses of various actions give the same amount of utilities. In this research paper, I will use utilitarianism theory to address what I believe, my politics, or how I respond to a moral dilemma. Utilitarianism is one of the four ethical models that was formulated to assists an ethical agent in deciding an ethical way.

Utilitarianism theory

According to (..), utilitarianism theory focuses on outcomes to determine the right and what is wrong. The theory holds that the most desirable choice of action is the one that benefits the greatest number. Utilitarianism theory is the most commonly used moral mode used in business since it accounts for the cost and the benefits. It is difficult to consider values such as justice and individual rights in utilitarianism theory. In utilitarianism theory, each judgment is made differently based on the situations since there are no reversal rules to which ethics are based on.

There are two types of utilitarianism ethics, which include the act of utilitarianism and rule of utilitarianism. The act utilitarianism, the judgment, is made differently basing on the situations, and the rule of utilitarianism also considers the adherence to the existing laws and fairness of the decisions. The rule utilitarian always seeks to be of great importance to people through the most just means available. Thus Act utilitarianism has an added advantage since it values benefit and justice at the same time. Like all other theories, utilitarianism has numerous flaws which includes possibility of being bias while making decisions, making the wrong prediction of the outcome which results to less benefit or more harm, one may predict a consequence of different nature for instant choices money first against happiness which is not comparable, and lastly, this model does not recognize the act of heroism. In this ethic model, every individual has to do a selfless action for the benefit of most individuals in society.

Ethical dilemma

When I met my girlfriend early today morning, she told me that she was so happy that we would have our rare dinner date in a fancy hotel tonight. I had made a promise to her last week as my birthday treat. Today, as I was in school, a very close friend of mine called me and informed me that he had assembled my other two close friends so that we can have close friend’s night out also tonight, which is the same time as I had promised my girlfriend a dinner.

In this case, I choose to go to my friends’ dinner, and my girlfriend will be heart so much for choosing my friends over her. On the other hand, my friend told me that it was challenging to assemble our friends due to their very tight schedules, and he wanted is to gather us for the boys’ celebration. He also informed me that dinner is joined with a send-off party with one of our friends who are going to the United Kingdom (UK) to further his studies. I wanted to combine my date and our friends’ party but my friend to me that it was an exclusive friend’s party and it was a challenging task to gather us. In the end, I told him I had to think about it and make tough decisions since that was a tough situation. He then said to me that he needs me to confirm my availability in three hours, or else he will have to cancel the celebrations. In this case, my dilemma is if I choose me to go to my friends’ cerebrations I will hurt my girlfriend and if I decide to go with my girlfriend, I will hurt my friends.

My Decisions according to the Utilitarian theory

Based on the utilitarian ethical model, I will go to my friends’ celebrations and postpone our dinner date. According to this situation, if I take my girlfriend to our date in a fancy hotel, only one person will be happy. Still, if I go to my friends’ celebrations, three people will be satisfied, and only one person will be satisfied. According to the utilitarian model, a decision is made whereby many people benefit, and atleast very few people are hurt. In this case, if I choose to go with friends, three people will help, and only one person will be hurt. Also, I could have just told my girlfriend that there has arisen an emergency at my friends’ place, and I am the only one who is in a possible situation to help, which she could have agreed to. This will have avoided disappointing my girlfriend, who is in line with Act utilitarianism, which allows any actions. By lying, it would have quickly summed up my decision to go to my friends’ party and to hurt no one and to make my friends happy.

My response and my believe

Since I have learned about ethical dilemmas in schools and also have further read it in books, my solutions were no longer a surprise to me. However, I must accept that I was surprised when I first read and learned about the utilitarian ethical model as a decision-making model when making critical and tough decisions. I must agree that I did not expect to find out that it is ethical to lie, manipulate, and coerce for the good of many. Going back to my decision, it is more beneficial to my friends, and it will cause harm to only one person.

On the other hand, my girlfriend will consider my decision to assisting a friend in times of emergency situations as critical and also as morally upright. Since my friend didn’t want to combine the party, my autonomy is less. There will be no autonomy to my girlfriends because of not giving her any options apart from canceling our date and depriving her of the truth that I was going to party with my friends.

Considering my values, I will not uphold my ethical solutions to my dilemma. In my case, it is not justified to break my promise and also to lie to be able to party, thus making my three friends happy and hurting my girlfriend. I find this decision as selfish and immoral. In my opinion, I will instead make the right decision without necessarily lying to benefit many. The utilitarian ethical model should consider moral uprightness without considering how many people are helping. The theory should find various ethics values to avoid biases. These values include equality, fairness, and justice.

Conclusions

Utilitarianism theory focuses on outcomes to determine the right and what is wrong. The theory holds that the most desirable choice of action is the one that benefits the most significant number. As discussed above, a  moral dilemma arises when a moral agent or individual believes in ethical principles that entail inconsistent actions. Decisions should have universal sense and should also be based on ethical principles. The decision made should not be biased and should be morally acceptable. In this case, I feel emotional and regrets by violating a moral principle since it will be exhibiting my moral character. I this case by lying to my girlfriend to attend my friends’ party will be violating my moral principle. Thus this would be a tough decision to make without breaking my moral character and also without harming others emotionally.