UTILITARISM- What are the basic moral rules?

Answer 1

I assume you mean 'utilitarianism' and you want to know what basic moral rules it entails? Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory - that means that the ends justify the means (if it turns out being moral, it doesn't matter how you got there).

The primary writer (that I know of) who talks about utilitarianism in depth was John Stuart Mill. He looked at utilitarianism as an almost mathematical theory. He claimed that what is moral is whatever creates the greatest good for the greatest number of people (but this does /not/ mean the majority). His theory works like this: suppose we can measure the amount of happiness/well-being (utility) in each person to come up with a number (measured in utiles). Then we consider doing an action. We count up the number of utiles of every person in the world after the action happens and get a total. Then we do the same for a different action or for inaction and get a different total. Mill says you should do whatever action gave the greatest total utility.

So the basic moral principle of utilitarianism is pretty much...as long as everyone is happy in the end, whatever I do is ok. But, especially if you're using Mill's theory, you still have to take the happiness of everyone into account - including anyone you hurt to get to the 'happy' ending.

Answer 2

KEY CONCEPTS
The key concepts in this paper are ethics, morals and values. Saarinen (1985, 414) defines the ethics as a division of philosophy which includes studies of the nature, the origin and the field of good and bad, right and wrong, justice and other concepts related to these ideas. The concepts of ethics and morals are closely related. While we use the two terms interchangeably, morals are generally understood to be the principles of right and wrong, whereas ethics involves an entire system of moral issues and focuses on right and wrong behaviour (Turunen et al. 1994, 123 - 124). According to Takala (1993, 4), the concepts have several meanings within different linguistic areas. Values can be understood as ideals which are behind actions (von Wright 1963). They influence our behaviour and are relatively general beliefs. Values are connected to ethics as they are ideals and possibilities which can become important for human beings when trying to achieve good life (see e.g. Koskiaho 1990, 126). Values guide choices of human behaviour and norms reflect those values that human beings in a society have accepted whether consciously or unconsciously. In this paper, we will concentrate on ethical values

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Answer 3

There are different types of utilitarianism: Act Utilitarianism or Rule Utilitarianism. In a nutshell, utilitarianism advocates what counts as good, which provides the basis for what to do, is measured in terms of the consequences. So if the outcome is good, do the act that gives that outcome. If the outcome is not good, do not do the act that gives that outcome. Since it draws its basis for an action from the consequence, it is also known as a consequentialism.

In regards to your question, it depends on what you mean by the basic moral rules and what kind of utilitarianism you are talking about. The form of utilitarianism itself is the moral basis in short.

For instance, Utilitarianism formulated by Jeremy Bentham advocates do the action that produces the greatest number of 'pleasure.' I must point out that his utilitarianism was intended for the use in political arena; and not necessarily intended to be used at the individual level even though the implication of his theory would include the individual use of utilitarianism.

Rule utilitarianism would say: make a rule (legislature) that produces the best consequences.

Extreme form of utilitarianism has its moral basis in utilitarianism itself; that is to say if a majority chooses to, say, murder a certain individual for fun, the right thing to do is to murder that person.

John Stuart Mill was the one who noticed the extreme aspects implied by Bentham. Similar to Bentham, but he drastically differs from Bentham in that there are certain things that cannot be justified even if it means it can lead to good consequences. For instance, Mill cites Immanuel Kant (rather unwillingly). Kant said that human life is beyond all price (priceless) and human deserves to be treated with respect. In terms of moral principles of Mill's Utilitarianism, at least I cannot agree that it is solely based on Utilitarianism; I think part of Kantian deontology comes in.

Answer 4

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In other words, treat other people the way you would like to be treated.