Activities in Chapter 4 (Lesson 2)

LESSON 2

ACTIVITY 2

Compare and Contrast the following: Utilitarianism, Deontology, and consequentialism. What are their
weaknesses.

C ontrast C ontrast C ontrast C ompare

(UTILITARIANISM) (DEONTOLOGY) (CONSEQUENTIALISM) ( UTILITARIANISM,
DEONTOLOGY,
CONSEQUENTIALISM)
Utilitarianism is an ethical Deontological ethics, in Consequentialism is an Utilitarianism,
theory that determines philosophy, ethical ethical theory that Deontology and
right from wrong by theories that place judges whether or not consequentialism are
focusing on outcomes. It special emphasis on the something is right by both ethical theories.
is a form of relationship between what its consequences Also these moral
consequentialism. duty and the morality of are. For instance, most theories tells about
Utilitarianism holds that human actions. people would agree that right and wrong.
the most ethical choice is In deontological ethics an lying is wrong. But if
the one that will produce action is considered telling a lie would help
the greatest good for the morally good because of save a person’s life,
greatest number. It is the some characteristic of the consequentialism says
only moral framework action itself, not because it’s the right thing to do.
that can be used to justify the product of the action
military force or war. is good. Deontological
ethics holds that at least
some acts are morally
obligatory regardless of
their consequences for
human welfare.
Descriptive of such ethics
are such expressions as
“Duty for duty’s sake,”
“Virtue is its own
reward,” and “Let justice
be done though the
heavens fall.”
QUESTIONS:
What are their weaknesses?

 One main weakness of “consequentialism” is that it gives priority to the action itself and the
effects of an action. This makes it quite hard for the concept to explore the moral responsibility
of a moral action, which mostly begins with the establishment of the state and position of an
actor or agent (Singleton 2). While in “Deontology”, its final major weakness is that it appears to
be indifferent to the consequences that actions undertaken in accordance with duties and
obligations might have no matter what is happening deontologist always has to follow his/her
duties or obligations. The opposite of Deontology is the ethical theory known as Act
Utilitarianism. And lastly the “Utilitarianism” where the main weakness of utilitarianism is that it
is extremely hard to predict the results of an action.
ACTIVITY 3
Virtue ethics state that only good people can make good moral decisions. Is this true? Conduct a debate
of this issue.
 So, I have here some debate about this issue where Mr. Jay Yip said that “Virtue is subjective in
conception and practice. Ethics is objective as assumed, and less so in theory. In practice, ethics
is highly subjective. Moral decisions are valued in a subjective way, always. Therefore, the
answer to your question can neither be true or untrue, but instead, the answer is always “it
depends”. While on the other person says that “The concept of good and evil are all opinionated
BS made by people for the sake of their own ego and Self Righteousness. Meaning that good is
subjective and there for isn’t the same for everyone. Which will make it very hard, if not
impossible, to make a decision that everyone would deem good or a person that everyone
would deem as a good person. So there is no point in asking that question because there are no
absolute good. But let’s pretend that that is not true. Let’s pretend that there is an absolute
good. Let’s say that in this case, “good” is define as action and things that benefits everyone.
Even if that was the case, that statement will still be false because even with good intention,
good result is not guarantee. Seriously people, if the world is really that simple and all it takes
for people to make the most beneficial decision is to be good, everyone will be good by now.
Sometimes, even the best of intention can still result in disaster. And at other times, the
intention of doing evil can result in benefit for all. No one knows what the future holds because
nobody can predict the future. If the world is that simple and all we need to do to conjure up
the most beneficial result is to be a good person, we’d be able to predict the future by now.
 Both of them are right, and as we can see they also have point. We can’t say that only good
people can make good moral decisions, because for me “GOOD or BAD” can make good moral
decision. It doesn’t mean that you are a good person, you can only make moral decision that’s
why bad person can do good things and make good moral decision as good person do. It’s like
this quote by simple reminders that says “Good person sometimes make bad decisions. They
mess up, and they let others down. But that doesn’t make them bad people. We all make
mistakes.
TEST YOURSELF
1. C
2. B
3. B
4. A
5. A
6. D
7. D
8. A
9. B
10. A

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LESSON 2

C ontrast C ontrast C ontrast C ompare

What are their weaknesses?

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