ACT AND RULE UTILITARIAN:
Theory
of human rights ethics
ü The rights ethicists emphasize that any action
that violates any moral right is considered as ethically unacceptable.
ü This theory holds that those actions are good
that respect the rights of the individual.
ü In other words, rights ethics holds that people
have fundamental rights that other people have a duty to respect.
ü Two versions of right ethics are:
1. Locke‘s version of rights ethics, and
2. Meldon‘s version of right ethics
Locke‟s
version of rights ethics
ü John locke (163-1704) a famous rights ethicist,
argued that humans have human rights to life, liberty, and the property
generated by one‘s labor.
ü His views human rights either were considered
as highly individualistic.
ü In locke‘s view, rights are claims that prevent
other people from interfering in one‘s life. These rights are referred as
‗liberty rights‘ or ‗negative rights‘ that place duties on other people not to
interfere with one‘s life.
Melden‟s
version of rights ethics
ü Melden (1910-1991) considered human rights as
intimately related to communities of people.
ü According to Melden, moral rights require the
capacity to show concern for other and to be accountable within a moral
community.
ü Melden also defined welfare rights as rights to
community benefits needed living a minimum decent human life.
Similarities
between duty ethics and rights ethics
ü In fact, duty ethics and right ethics
are like two different sides of the same coin.
ü Both the theories focus and achieve the same
end result. The end result is that individual persons must be respected, and
actions are ethical that maintain this respect for the individual.
ü As per duty ethics, people have duties, a
primary one of which is to protect the rights of others.
ü But according to right ethics, people have
fundamental rights that others have duties to protect.
Difficulties
in implementing duty and rights ethics theories
The two principal difficulties with the duty
and rights ethics theories are:
ü It is sometimes very difficult to prioritize
the rights of individuals or groups. Because the basic rights of an individual
or groups of individuals may conflict with the basic rights of another group.
ü Since both the theories concern more about the
good of an individual, therefore sometimes the overall good of society is not
given much importance.
Tests
for evaluating ethical theories
ü Theory must be clear and logical. The concepts
of theory should be formulated to enhance applicability.
ü The theory should be consistent with its
principles. The principles of the same theory should not contradict each other.
ü The theory and its defense should rely only
upon facts, truths, and correct information.
ü The theory should be adequately complete so
that to provide guidance for our required specific situations.
ü The theory should be well- matched with moral
convictions such as judgments, and intuitions about concrete situations.
What is
meant by utility?
Utility can be defined as an overall balance
between good and bad consequences of an action, taking into account the
consequences for everyone affected.
Rule
utilitarianism
ü Rule utilitarianism differs from act
utilitarianism in owning that moral rules are more important than an
individual‘s action.
ü Richard Brandt proposed this version of
utilitarianism.
ü According to Brandt, though sticking to general
moral rules such as don‘t lie, don‘t steal, be honest, don‘t harm others, etc
might not always maximize good in a particular situation, overall, sticking to
moral rules will ultimately guide to the most good.
Act
utilitarianism
ü The act utilitarianism concept was developed by
John Stuart Mill.(180-1873).
ü The act utilitarianism focuses on individual
actions rather than on general rules.
ü It is understood that most of the common rules
of morality such s don‘t lie, don‘t steal, be honest, don‘t harm others, keep
promises etc are good guidelines to judge a human begin.
But according to Mill, a person‘s actions
should be judged based on whether the greatest good was achieved in a given
situation. He also emphasized that even the general rules should be broken, if
necessary, to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
ü Mill‟s view about „goodness‟
As we
know, the standard of right action is maximizing goodness, according to Mill,
the term ‗goodness‘ represents two things.
Intrinsic
good: intrinsic good is something
good in and of itself, or desirable for its own sake. He felt that happiness is the only intrinsic good.
Instrumental
goods: instrumental goods are other
good things that provide means for happiness.
ü In Mill‘s view, the pleasures derived through
intellectual inquiry, creative accomplishment, appreciation of beauty,
friendship, and love are inherently better than the bodily pleasures derived
from eating, sex, and exercise.
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