how would one explain utilitarianism in laymans terms??

Answer 1

Life should be based upon the principle of taking actions that result in the most good and the most pleasure. For instance, you would help your fellow man because it a) helps society, b) helps him, and c) makes you feel good and builds your social capital. You've accomplished the most good with your actions and spread around the greatest happiness.

Answer 2

Explain Utilitarianism

Answer 3

It's a philosophical and ethical theory about what follows on after actions (the consequences) rather than what you are actually doing as being important in making decisions on how to act.

Utilitarians are therefore people who judge an action to be right if it results in a greater overall balance of good (consequences) over bad (consequences).

The right action maximises overall happiness. The theory is referred to as a cost-benefit analysis.

There are four sub-types of utilitarianism (based around the way in which we/philosophers have defined 'happiness')

i) Hedonistic Utilitarianism: believe that overall happiness results from maximising pleasure and avoiding pain.

ii) Preference Utilitarianism: define happiness in terms of the fulfilment or satisfaction of individual preferences, such as dreams, hopes, desires etc. These may not automatically be associated with heightened levels of happiness.

iii) Act Utilitarianism: focuses on the consequences of a particular act, so that each act is analysed on an individual basis. One would have to calculate the consequences of whether it would be ethically acceptable to buy a non-fair trade coffee on a day when you do not have enough money to afford a fair-trade coffee.

iv) Rule Utilitarianism: this approach considers the consequences of adopting rules and regulations.

Hope this helps

Answer 4

The speed of sound is approx 700mph - the speed of light is way faster (light takes approx 8 mins to get from the sun to hear and thats millions and millions of equivalent miles - you could get your calculator out and work out how long sound would take but of course, sound doesn't travel in space due to the vacuum). My understanding of the theory of relativity (and it may not be entirely accurate) is that for a body to achieve the speed of light (or "infinite" speed) you would require "infinite" energy (i.e. all the energy in the universe) and therefore would require infinite mass (i.e. all the mass or matter in the universe). As you can imagine, for a layman such as myself, that is why it is easy to agree with Einstein, that speed of light travel is not possible. Of course, noone told also those light photons that go around! The theory also goes on about: what if you were on a train at the back of the carriage, travelling at the speed of light and then moved to the front, you would in fact be travelling at faster than light speeds (which Mr E stated is impossible). Lastly, Mr E bangs on about if you were on the train doing the Speed of Light (S.O.L.) your perception would be different to someone standing by the side of the "train track" - imagine you are looking at a tree; what you are actually seeing is the light (that took 8 mins to arrive from the sun) bounce of the tree to your eyes, which sends the electric signal to your brain which tells you you're seeing a tree. Apply that example to the bystander watching the S.O.L. train - what can you see when the train is moving at the same speed as the light that needs to bounce off the train to reach your eyes? I think this is why Mr E called it the theory of relativity because of this taking into account of the relative perceptions of the train passenger and the track bystander. As I said, this is my understanding and I could be way wrong - I would recommend you read "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawkings, although I've read it 3 times (last time was about 5 years ago) and I still feel like a caveman grappling with a Nintendo DS! Good luck in your journey towards enlightenment - may the force be with you!

Answer 5

Utilitarianism in laymans terms, the way I look at it: Doing the greatest amount of good for the benefit of the greatest amount of people- eg: If I had the power and thought by using coal we are damaging our environment, I would have all coal plants and production shut down so the greatest amount of people in the world could be healthier.(This is just an extreme example, but you get the idea).

Answer 6

doesn't a unitarian beleive it's not important what you beleive,only that you do?

Answer 7

the greatest good for the greatest number. itf it works do it. forget principles of morality.

Answer 8

democratic wickedness.