Utilitarianism and DeontologyTwo Competing Ethical Systems

By: Mark Allseits

What are ethics?Ethics can be defined as moral principles that govern a person or groups’ actions.

Who do ethics apply to? Individuals GroupsEgalitarian Systems

Why do ethics matter?

They are way to achieve what is good

The means through which we achieve something good is by setting a goal or making a policy

There are two main parts to a goal

Means- How the goal is achieved

Ends- The end result of the goal

UtilitarianismGreatest Good for the Greatest Number of People

The ends justifies the means

(Util is an ends based calculus)

Taxing the rich isn’t egalitarian, but one could argue it benefits more people than it harms

Thus, if the aforementioned statement were proved true taxing the rich is utilitarian

John S. Mill (1806-1873)

Mill’s Point of View

“The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure.”

Zell Kravinsky

Kravinsky and Util

Mr. Kravinsky said the only argument against altruistic kidney donation — those given to strangers — that has any validity for him is the one pressed by his wife and parents, who asked what he would do if one of his children needed a kidney and he had none to give.

Types of UtilPersonal Utilitarianism

This justifies things that are in the interest of the actorThe United States continues to use drone strikes because it provides utility for the US even though other innocent civilians in the Middle East.

If the US were to continue their drone strikes if it killed more foreign lives than it saves in US lives, this would be an example of exercising personal utility.

Types of UtilMaximum Human Utility (Kravinsky)

This argues that one life is no more important that another.Mr. Kravinsky says he is only applying the principle of "maximum human utility," explaining, "My life is not worth more than anyone else's." "No one should have a vacation home until everyone has a place to live," he said. "No one should have a second car until everyone has one. And no one should have two kidneys until everyone has one."

Which way is better?

Which way would you act: (Personal or Maximum Life)?

Which way to you think is truly “utilitarian”?

Which do you think will make the most compelling argument?

Mill’s Answer to the Questions

“The happiness which forms the standard of what is right in conduct is not the agent’s own happiness, but that of all concerned. As between his own happiness and that of others, utilitarianism requires him to be as strictly impartial as a disinterested spectator.” “One person’s happiness, is counted for exactly as much as another’s.”

John S. Mill, 1863

Critiques of UtilNo act is inherently immoral

Utilitarian ideology is ends based, thus it analyzes the consequences and not the meansThus, Hitler’s means of benefiting the Nazi German economy was utilitarian, however, he creates major deontological moral issues (i.e. torture, concentration camps…etc.)

DeontologyIs much less tangible than Utilitarianism

The ends doesn’t justify the means

I.e. Hitler’s Germany

The economy and growth of Nazi Germany was expanding, however, the means through which this goal was achieved were vastly more important than the ends.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

Kant’s Point of View

1. Universalize your action

2. Never treat people as a means to an end

Thus, Kant says treat everyone as you would want yourself to be treated. If you wouldn’t want to be shoved in front of a train, then don’t shove someone else in front of a train to save 5 lives.

Categorical Imperative

3-Part Test:1. "Act only according to that maxim whereby you

can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction."

2. "Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end and never merely as a means to an end”

3. "Therefore, every rational being must so act as if he were through his maxim always a legislating member in the universal kingdom of ends."

Summary Principles vs. Consequences

Utilitarianism is realistic

Deontology protects our rights

Critical ThinkingScenario 1: You are trapped in a cave with 5 other people. You know that a rescue crew will be searching for you at this point, however you don’t know when or if the rescue crew will be able to make it to you while you are still alive because you have no food. They could come in two minutes or never. Do the four of you kill the weakest individual and extend your potential collective group of living at the expense of the one individual? Give warranted reasons for why or why not.

Critical ThinkingScenario 2: A family of five people runs to the door of your house and says they need protecting because a crazy man is trying to kill them. You hide them in the house. Three minutes later, the crazy man asks if the family is hidden in your ask.

What do you say?

Why do you say that?