ETHICAL THEORIES

UTILITARIANISM

Utilitarianism is one of the dominant types of teleological ethics (consequentialist theory). It appeals for the maximization of goodness in the society. Utilitarianism entails the greatest goodness for the greatest number and not merely the good of the agent. Utilitarians pass moral judgment depending of the ability of an action to procure more or less pleasure. If it maximizes pleasure, then it is morally right and if does not maximize, then it is morally wrong.[1] Notable utilitarian theorists include the persons of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACT AND RULE UTILITARIANISM

Act and rule utilitarianism generally agree that the entire goal in assessing actions is based on its ability to procure the best result possible for the greater number of people. Nevertheless, they differ on how to do that. Act utilitarianism posits that an action is right when it produces goodness for the greatest number of people while Rule utilitarianism posits the rightness of an action to be dependent on the correctness of the rules that allow it to achieve the greatest good.

The major difference that can be discovered between these two types of utilitarianism is that Act Utilitarians apply the utilitarian principle directly to the evaluation of the individual actions i.e. the evaluation of its consequence to maximize good while Rule Utilitarians apply the principle directly to the evaluation of the rules that the action is an instance and then evaluate the  individual actions by seeing if it obeys or disobey those rules whose acceptance will produce the most utility.[2]

EGOISM

Egoism is a theory that claims that one’s self is, or should be the motivation and the goal of one’s own action. It places strong emphasis on self-regard, self-interest, or self-love in the moral life. It further stresses such questions like, is everything that we do really done out of self-interest? Is some form of egoism the best moral theory? Is egoism really opposed to true morality?[3] Nevertheless, egoism is noted to be one of the consequentialist theories (teleological ethics) which narrow to the agent directly. Furthermore, there are two main types of egoism moral philosophers are interested in; they are ethical egoism and psychological egoisms.

ETHICAL EGOISM: this is a moral view that everyone ought always to do those acts that will best serve his or her own self-interest. This implies that an action is morally right if it maximizes the best interest of one’s self even when it conflicts with the interest of others. Ethical egoism is a theory that focuses on how we ought to behave i.e. our moral obligation is to seek one’s own self-interest and the rightness or wrongness of our conduct depends on us fulfilling our self-interest.  

PSYCHOLOGICAL EGOISM: this view claims that each person has but one ultimate aim, which is his/her own welfare. Thus, this position stresses that everyone always do that act they perceive to be to their best self-interest i.e. we have no choice but to be selfish. More so, this position entails that the underlining motivation for every action is the promotion of self-interest.

EPICUREANISM

 Epicureanism is a philosophical thought that was injected by Epicurus the ancient Greek philosopher. His ethics takes the shape of egoistic hedonism i.e. he posits that the only thing that is intrinsically valuable is one’s own pleasure. Thus anything that has value is valuable merely as a means of securing pleasure for oneself. Moreover, it would worthy to note that owing to Epicurus conception of pleasure, he purposely pointed out virtue and moderately ascetic life to be the best means to pleasure.

Epicurus takes the position that the highest good is valued for its own sake and not for the sake of anything else. He identifies pleasure as the highest good in contrast to Aristotle’s happiness. Epicurus takes this position because he reasons that pleasure is the only thing that people as a matter of fact and value for its own sake. Therefore his ethical hedonism is dependent upon his psychological hedonism i.e. everything we do is because we desire pleasure for ourselves. 

Epicurus makes distinction between two types of pleasure, which are kinetic and static pleasures. He posits that kinetic pleasure occurs when one is in the process of satisfying a particular desire example, when one drinks water when thirsty. These pleasures involve an active stimulation of the senses and their feelings are what most people call pleasure. However, when one is satisfied and is no longer being in need or want is itself pleasure and this kind of pleasure he identified as the static pleasure. He further distinguishes between mental and physical pleasure and pain. Physical pleasure and pain are concerned with the present while the mental pleasure encompasses the past, present and future.  Therefore, he believed that anxiety of the future and regret of the past are the greatest danger to pleasure.

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[1] Cf. Louis P. Pojman and James Fieser, Ethics Discovering Right and Wrong ( USA, Wadsworth, 1976) p. 103

[2] www.iep.utm.edu/util-a-r/

[3] Cf. Louis P. Pojman and James Fieser, Ethics Discovering Right and Wrong ( USA, Wadsworth, 1976) p. 82