Benthams Principle Of Utility And Moral Ethics Philosophy Essay

Can be defined as those principles on which our moral decisions are based. Ethics are the sense of right and wrong, good and evil, values and responsibility. Thus it is considered as a major branch of philosophy. It can be described as the science of human duty. These ethics are therefore the measurement by which a human being is graded as being good, bad and evil. In simple terms moral ethics are nothing but the code of conduct decided by each person for himself or herself for operating in this world and fellow beings. 

Moral ethics are formed from the obligations and duties of a person in the society. Nobody can force a person to adhere to moral ethics. For e.g. if a person sees an accident victim lying on the road it is his moral ethic to help out the victim but if he chooses to not do so then no social institution can punish him for this unwillingness. Thus these ethics are relative and subjective

Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that places the locus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes (consequences) of choosing one action/policy over other actions/policies. As such, it moves beyond the scope of one’s own interests and takes into account the interests of others

Get Help With Your Essay

If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!
Find out more about our Essay Writing Service

Bentham’s Principle of Utility

Recognizes the fundamental role of pain and pleasure in human life, approves or disapproves of an action on the basis of the amount of pain or pleasure brought about i.e., consequences, equates good with pleasure and evil with pain, and asserts that pleasure and pain are capable of quantification

Act and Rule Utilitarianism

We can apply the principle of utility to either PARTICULAR ACTIONS or GENERAL RULES. The former is called “act-utilitarianism” and the latter is called “rule-utilitarianism.”

Act-utilitarianism 

The principle of utility is applied directly to each alternative act in a situation of choice. The right act is then defined as the one which brings about the best results (or the least amount of bad results).

Rule-utilitarianism 

The principle of utility is used to determine the validity of rules of conduct (moral principles). A rule like promise-keeping is established by looking at the consequences of a world in which people broke promises at will and a world in which promises were binding. Right and wrong are then defined as following or breaking those rules.

 Deontological Theories

Having briefly taken a look at deontologists’ foil, consequentiality theories of act evaluation, we turn now to examine deontological theories. In contrast to consequentiality theories, deontological theories judge the morality of choices by criteria different than the states of affairs those choices bring about. Roughly speaking, deontologists of all stripes hold that some choices cannot be justified by their effects that no matter how morally good their consequences, some choices are morally forbidden. On deontological accounts of morality, agents cannot make certain wrongful choices even if by doing so the number of wrongful choices will be minimized (because other agents will be prevented from engaging in similar wrongful choices). For deontologists, what makes a choice right is its conformity with a moral norm. Such norms are to be simply obeyed by each moral agent; such norm-keepings are not to be maximized by each agent. In this sense, for deontologists, the Right has priority over the Good. If an act is not in accord with the Right, it may not be undertaken, no matter the Good that it might produce.

 Ethical egoism

 Is the prescriptive doctrine that all persons ought to act from their own self-interest?

Personal ethical egoism

 Is the belief that only I should act from the motive of self-interest, nothing is stated about what motives others should act from.

Individual ethical egoism

 Is the prescriptive doctrine that all persons should serve my self-interest?

Universal ethical egoism 

Is the universal doctrine that all persons should pursue their own interests exclusively?

Computer History

The development of the modern day computer was the result of advances in technologies and man’s need to quantify. Papyrus helped early man to record language and numbers. The abacus was one of the first counting machines.

Some of the earlier mechanical counting machines lacked the technology to make the design work. For instance, some had parts made of wood prior to metal manipulation and manufacturing. Imagine the wear on wooden gears. This history of computers site includes the names of early pioneers of math and computing.

What is a Computer?

A computer is an electronic device, which executes software programs. It consists of 2 parts-hardware and software. The computer processes input through input devices like mouse and keyboard. The computer displays output through output devices like color monitor and printer. The size of a computer varies considerably from very small to very big. The speed of computers also has a very large range. Computers have become indispensable in today’s world

USES of COMPUTER

Word Processing 

Word Processing software automatically corrects spelling and grammar mistakes. If the content of a document repeats you don’t have to type it each time. You can use the copy and paste features. You can printout documents and make several copies. It is easier to read a word-processed document than a handwritten one. You can add images to your document.

Mathematical Calculations 

Thanks to computers, which have computing speeds of over a million calculations per second we can perform the biggest of mathematical calculations.

Planning and Scheduling 

Software can be used to store contact information, generating plans, scheduling appointments and deadlines.

DISADVANTAGE of USING COMPUTER

Computer addiction 

Is a relatively new term used to describe a dependency on one’s computer. Computer addiction is not limited to personal computers (PCs). It covers video games and the Internet and has already been given a label by psychologists, namely Internet addiction disorder.

Obsessive playing of off-line computer games, such as Solitaire or Minesweeper, or obsessive computer programming.

Cybersex Addiction

Compulsive use of Internet pornography, adult chat rooms, or adult fantasy role-play sites impacting negatively on real-life intimate relationships.

Cyber-Relationship Addiction 

Addiction to social networking, chat rooms, and messaging to the point where virtual, online friends become more important than real-life relationships with family and friends.

Computer ethics

Computer ethics is set of moral principles that regulate the use of computers. Some common issues of computer ethics include intellectual property rights (such as copyrighted electronic content), privacy concerns, and how computers affect society.

For example, while it is easy to duplicate copyrighted electronic (or digital) content, computer ethics would suggest that it is wrong to do so without the author’s approval. And while it may be possible to access someone’s personal information on a computer system, computer ethics would advise that such an action is unethical.

As technology advances, computers continue to have a greater impact on society. Therefore, computer ethics promotes the discussion of how much influence computers should have in areas such as artificial intelligence and human communication. As the world of computers evolves, computer ethics continues to create ethical standards that address new issues raised by new technologies.

Is a new branch of ethics that is growing and changing rapidly as computer technology also grows and develop.

Code of ethics in using computer

Information stored on the computer should be treated as seriously as written or spoken word.

Privacy should not be violated. In case of academic use, it is known plagiarism.

Information from public viewing should not be modified or delete or inaccessible since there are consider as destructive act.

Intrusive software such as worm and viruses which are destructive to the computer system is also illegal.

Sending obscene and crude messages through mail or chat is also forbidden.

Ethical rules for computer user

Do not use computer to harm other users

Do not use computer to steal other information

Do not access a file without the permission of the owner

Do not copy copyrighted software without the authors permission

Always respect copyright law and policies

Respect privacy of others, just as you expect the same from the others

ADVANTAGES OF USING COMPUTER

Total availability of any information you could want. Quotes, history, books from the library, news articles, different opinions and viewpoints, immediate news, encyclopedias, information available that may have taken you weeks or years to discover if you had to search through different sources and locations. You can find recipes online. You can chat with people, while doing other things. You can now watch videos, and listen to all sorts of music. You can visit information resources, groups, studies, etc. You can learn about medical issues, and legal issues. You can attend school online. You can write a poem, a story, a book, a script. You can create a full-feature movie. You can compose music. You can sort out your ideas. Manage your money. Do your banking. Organize your job. Buy concert tickets. Buy practically anything you can imagine online. Use computer to pay all utilities bills in 15 mins which would take more than an hour to go to the post office to make payment in queue. Keep a personal diary. Play games. Invent and create new games and programs. Discover interesting things, or see other countries. Learn. Grow. Interact.

MORAL

Computers today are one of the important things we are using. They have helped a lot in compiling a lot data which used to be in hard records. One of the uses or benefits of computers is that they are able to provide and retrieve information so quickly so they have increased the pace of our work. The increase in the speed of work has helped us to do many things with less resources like in past a lot of manpower was used for record keeping and files and other things were made to keep the records saved. 

This is one use of computers in our lives other than that computers has helped us to work with machines which have the ability to produce the best quality of products with maximum speed and efficiency. In today’s world it is necessary that to cater for such a heavy population things are made at the higher pace with best quality, so it is possible with the help of computer that we are able to cater for the need of quantity and quality of products required in daily life. 

Computer is also helping us in education of children; it has enabled us to get the information form one part of the world to the other at a very rapid pace. So in summary computer today is in every walk of life, and is helping us a lot in developing at a fast pace

Also most of use our computers to look up past events, and then there the other reason on how computers help our lives, by using computers we can check up on the weather, before we go to work or school. So by checking the weather we already know if it’s going to Rain or Snow. Or it’s could be sunny. then there contracting other family members, where many of us use our computers to text our family to see how they’re going, when member of you family is so far away living in a difference state or country

Last but not least by using our computers to shop on the internet we can find the product we are looking for. Without going inside the retail store to look for it, only to find out it’s sold out. So by shopping on the internet it saves some a lot of trouble. From looking for something that is not there.