Difference between aristotelian ethics and utilitarianism

Difference betwixt aristotelian ethics and utileismAccording to Aristotle, the ultimate hu manhood grave is cheer, which is synonymous with sodding(a) exertion and living closely. Here virtue should be defined as excellence, or doing ones life-long exemplifyivities closely, in accordance of rectifys with terminate ones prim exercise. Aristotles nonion of the comely serve up of mankind is described as the activity of the soul in configuration with virtue and article of belief, and is in addition what he considers to be the highest value. The example criterion for terminate ones proper function is to act in the same manner as a someone of perfect(a) character. Man is not here precisely to live, but is endowed with the faculty of reason and should exercise this readiness chastely, as part of his proper function. Aristotle asserts that activity, especially right activity, is the function of man. Merely having the capacity to call up rationally is not enou gh rather, one must tell on use of this ability to discover whether or not the trans treats he wants to have be in conformity with excellence and virtue. Upon doing so, he is acting double-dyed(a)ly and must continue this course of proceeding for his entire life in order to be somebody of grievous character and to complete his proper function. Aristotle defines The Good as beingness the object at which mans actions aim and easily as simply being the end of ones action. While he does not consider this form of The Good to be visible, the conception is very nigh associated with the proper function of mankind. A pleader of teleology, Aristotle believes in a explicit right way to act, as well as the existence of a universal order. Therefore, in order to complete ones proper function, one has to be the right kind of person specifically, he must be of object lesson, virtuous character for his actions to be considered total. Aristotle notes that it is not enough simply to d o these virtuous activities, but one must conceptionfully complete such(prenominal) activities to sincerely perform his proper function. For man to be able to act virtuously, be incorrupt, and achieve supreme happiness, external goods be necessary. Such goods may be friends, wealth, and political power, though Aristotle in addition mentions that the lack of goods like good birth, good children, and beauty could spoil ultimate happiness (Aristotle, 21).Also important to Aristotle is the ideal of a moral meanevery virtuous action is a mean between deficiency and excess, and he considers such extremes to be rubber. Consider the adhereing casing a lack of courageousness is associated with cowardice, darn having too much courage leads to recklessnessneither of which would be seen as good qualities. This moral mean is not universal, but relative to each individual. Associated with the idea of a moral mean is the immensity Aristotle places on living a balanced life in which ever ything runs smoothly. Aristotle also addresses the concepts of recreation and distressingness, and their association with happiness. As previously stated, happiness is identified as virtuous activity, as opposed to an emotion or feeling. While Aristotle does not believe that happiness is a feeling, he does recognize joyousness to be such. His concern with joy comes when man seems to be living solely for this feeling, for such a life is not virtuous. When man performs his proper function, he knows himself to be happy, and as a consequence, he feels merriment for having done so. Aristotle does not think that this kind of pleasure is vulgar, but a natural result from leading(a) a virtuous life.In his presentation of the doctrine of functionalism, John Stuart wonk bases the moral system on his observations of how people already behave in their daily lives. This process demonstrates the application of inductive ethics, which is the idea that observation and get a line give knowl edge of morality. If an innate moral gumption does exist, consort to wonk the best that this sense hindquarters do is tell us moral laws, but Utilitarianism is still necessary to decide how these laws should be applied. For Mill, the ultimate finis of man is the promotion of happiness, which he defines as the presence of pleasure and the absence seizure of pain and recognizes to be an emotion. More specifically, the utilitarian tries to promote the general happiness of mankind, while simultaneously trying to pursue his sustain pleasure. These ideas lead to the oecumenic Happiness Principle, which holds to the concept that actions atomic number 18 right if they lead to increased happiness and decreased unhappiness, and wrong if they do the opposite. Man should always act so that companionship is improved, but should also be careful not to neglectfulness himself in the process. Mill places importance on the consequences of ones actions, rather than on ones demand for perform ing the actions. As long as promoting happiness is the end of the action, that action heap be considered good and moral, even though ones motivation is oftentimes the hope of personal pleasure or gain.The doctrine of Utilitarianism is enforced by external and internal sanctions, as are all former(a) moral systems. External sanctions are those outside of ones mind, such as the police or the opinion of the partnership in which one lives, which prevent one from completing trustworthy actions. Therefore, the internal sanctions of mans actions come in the form of ones conscience and sense of duty. These sanctions are not intended to be the reasons for acting a certain way, but are protective mechanisms in case one performs an action as the result of poor judgment. Mill believes that character need not be considered when assessing the worth of ones actions rather, one should take into account the character of another(prenominal) in his estimation of the worth of that person.An entire chapter of Mills work is give to umpire. Mill describes justice as being natural and absolute, as well as a composite of several sentiments, namely vengeance, self-defense, and sym passagewayy. Mill relates flipper characteristics of justice in his discussion. The first is the slew that the violation of a persons licit rights is unjust. It then follows that the upholding of moral rights would be considered just. Receiving what one deservesor earning the consequences of ones actionsis the third characteristic, and for Mill the most crucial, as this concept presents the clearest conception of justice by the general population. The quarter attribute of justice is the accepted belief that breaking promises to others is an unjust action. Lastly, being impartial is admitted to be consistent with the notion of justice. Unjust actions require penalisation because man has certain duties that must be performed, and justice is intended to keep in line that each individual completes the actions for which they are responsible. either individual has rights that they expect society to honor, and justice is necessary to uphold these rights and ensure the existence of a society in which the general happiness can be achieved. For these reasons, Mill believes that justice is the highest form of pleasure.Mill offers a proof for Utilitarianism with the following premises (1) some(prenominal) is desired is a good (2) each person desires his or her own happiness (3) from the first two premises it follows that happiness is a good for every individual (4) society consists of individuals (5) one concludes from (3) and (4) that the aggregate good is be to the gist of the good of each individual. Therefore, the social good is equal to the correspond of the good of each individual in society. Mill arrives at his evidence by using empirical observation, working from the ground up to build up his argument. He notes that one can conclude that happiness is desirable because of the circumstance that people actually desire it, making happiness a good for every individual. Because society is made up of individuals, the social good is the sum of the good of each individual. Each premise is formulated from observation and experience, jump at the base and building upon these ideas, which demonstrates Mills empirical formulation of the principle of Utilitarianism. Mill believes in the perfectibility of man and society through Utilitarianism, since its adherents would be form for the good of all, continually aiming at higher morality.The utilitarian offers objections to Aristotelian Ethics, specifically in regard to Aristotles opinion of how to determine the spirit of ones character and actions, as well as his treatment of the nature of pleasure and pain. A proponent of Utilitarianism questions Aristotles view of what constitutes a good or bad character, as well as his criteria for what makes actions good or bad. One recalls that for an act to be good, accordi ng to Aristotle, it must be performed in the manner in which a virtuous person would perform the action. In his definitions of bad acts and bad character, Aristotle uses each idea to define the other, presenting a circle that is not quite justified. He believes that a person of bad character is one that performs bad acts however, he also believes that a bad act is one that comes from a bad character. Aristotle does leave several acts that are said to be absolutely wrong, and those who perform these acts are of bad character. However, no mention is made of actions that are absolutely rightAristotle exactly states that actions taken by people of good character are right. The Utilitarian wonders how to define a good character if there exist no absolutely right actions that may be performed to provide a butt for what constitutes a good character. The notion of absolute rights and wrongs cannot be fairly use if only the absolute wrongs are taken into consideration when defining the na ture of ones character. Another inconsistency found in Aristotles argument is when he allows that a virtuous person is capable of making a mistake, but can still be considered to be of good character, so long as the mistake is not so great that it cannot help but be noticed (Aristotle, 51). He does not agree that a person of bad character can do something good and have his action really be considered good, which follows from his criteria for what constitutes good and bad actions. If one chose instead to focus on the consequences of a mans actions to determine the goodness or badness of his actions, the character of this person could be more easily determined. An act ought to be considered good if it promotes pleasure and decreases pain, regardless of the character of the person who performs the act. Similarly, a bad act would be one that decreases happiness and promotes pain. Here, character is not a measure of the virtue of the action, but can be justly determined by discover the results of ones actions over time. Such is the view of the utilitarian.Also in question is Aristotles teleological view of mankind that is manifest in the presentation of his moral system. His word sense of the notion that man has a proper function and that there is a definite right way to do things demonstrates Aristotles support of teleology. In other words, the existence of a proper function of man is what causes one to act the way he doesin a manner striving to complete this proper function. In opposition to this viewpoint, the utilitarian doubts the existence of one right course of study for every individual to take in lifethe direction one chooses to follow ought to depend on the consequences of the actions that he desires to pursue. Aristotle believes that the reason man acts morally is because that is what he is supposed to do, simply because completing his proper function requires such action. The utilitarian, in favor of an empirical view of ethics, looks at what man obv iously desires happiness. Every individual has an interest in achieving and maintaining his own happiness, as well as promoting the general happiness of society to a certain extent, so it follows that man would want to act in a way that increases pleasure and happiness, while lessening pain. By promoting the goodhappinesshe is acting virtuously. From this, one realizes that there are diverse kinds of happiness that can be desired reaching these states of happiness unavoidably requires all kinds of people (both so-called good and bad people) taking antithetical actions. This admission indicates that there is not one right direction that can only be followed by the right kind of people, as Aristotle suggests.A crucial difference between Aristotelian ethics and Utilitarianism is the respective roles of pleasure and pain as they are related to right and wrong. Aristotle believes that pleasure and pain are subject to the criteria for right and wrong, whereas the utilitarian believes t hese feelings determine the criteria for right and wrong. The criteria Aristotle uses to determine the virtue (or lack thereof) of ones actions is whether or not the actions are those that a person of virtuous character would perform. One recalls that Aristotle believes that performing virtuous actions in accordance with ones proper function is synonymous with happiness. When one is completing his proper function he might feel pleasure as a consequence, but that is not his reason for choosing to act the way he does. Pleasure, then, would not be the desired end to ones actionsacting virtuously and completing ones proper function are the goals. However, if one accepts the view that happiness is what man most desires, then he should see the importance of acting in a way that promotes pleasure and happiness. It would seem that right actions promote overall pleasure, for the person performing the action and often for others around him therefore, one should choose to act in a way that pro motes pleasure, as this is the right way to do things. In this manner, also, the utilitarian denounces Aristotles teleological view of the existence of humanity clearly, man chooses actions that bring pleasure, for the purpose of attaining happiness.Utilitarianism can be considered to be practical moral system, as its ideas are based on observations of peoples actions and behavior in daily life. The inconsistencies found in Aristotles argumenthis method for defining a good or bad character, as well as the allowances he makes for one and not the othermake accepting his moral system difficult for the utilitarian. Also difficult to accept is Aristotles teleological view of a universal order and only one moral path to take, the existence of which is supposed to be the cause of our actions. Rather, it seems evident that the promotion of pleasure and diminishing of pain are the causes of human action therefore, they are the determinants of right and wrong. Following the notion of empirici smaccepting that all knowledge originates in experienceallows one to logically conclude that because pleasure and happiness are things that everyone desires (the groundwork) people should act in a way that promotes happiness (the end).