Utilitarianism Vs Neoliberalism

Consequentialism is determining whether actions are justified based on the consequences of the action. Singer’s approach of utilitarianism, a form of consequentialism, is deepened by arguing that the consequences of the action for all life that is able to perceive pleasure or pain must be taken into account in determining whether the action is right or wrong. Deontology takes a different approach to how actions are determined just. According to Regan’s view, an action is not considered right or wrong based on the consequence of the action, but on the action itself, referring to “moral rules and duties” (p.29). Regan focuses on the intrinsic value that pertains to animals and argues that since they have intrinsic value it is morally wrong

Utilitarianism is a philosophical theory that states something is considered to be right when it does the most good for most the most amount of people (Duignan 2015). This theory doesn’t consider the feelings of the individual; it considers the feelings of the majority (Duignan 2015). Utilitarianism is very different from relativism, which takes into account the totality of circumstances, this philosophical theory states that what is considered to be right or wrong can vary depending on people and society (Rachels 2015).

1. Shaw and Barry distinguish two different forms of utilitarianism. What are these two forms? Briefly describe each and use examples.

Libertarians reject Utilitarianism’s concerns for the total social well-being. While utilitarians are willing to restrict the liberty of some for the greater good, libertarians believe that justice consists solely of respect for individual property. If an individual isn’t doing something that interferes with anyone else’s liberty, then no person, group, or government should disturb he or she from living life as desired (not even if doing so would maximize social happiness). They completely disregard concern for an overall social well-being. Using a libertarian’s perspective, a state that taxes its better-off citizens to support the less fortunate ones violates their rights because they have not willingly chosen to do so. In that same context, a theory that forces capitalists to invest in people and natural capital is immoral. Nevertheless, libertarians encourage that people help those in need, as it is a good thing.

The world gradually entered its modern state after the English Revolution and largely abandoned the old political systems of monarchy. Economic achievement made due to the Industrial Revolution strengthened the connection between the economy and politics, and thus the emergence of classical liberalism and its future derivatives are inseparably tied to both economic and political components. Classical liberalism, New deal liberalism and neoliberalism are similar in that they all put much emphasis on the economy. They derived from the same basic ideology that individuals should be free and have their own properties protected. However, under the so-called freedom and democracy is the fact that they do not apply to every member of the society.

On contrary, Neoliberalism is a form of liberalism to favor free market capitalism. “The role of the state is to create and preserve an institutional framework appropriate to such practices” (Harvey, 2007, pg. 2). The state must promise quality of money. According to the theory of neoliberalism, state intervention in markets must be kept minimum because it will create a bias from powerful interests group to distort for their own

(6)You should not kill an innocent (friendless but healthy) person EVEN IF by doing so (and giving his organs to several others) you could increase net happiness.

Advocacy committees such as the Business Roundtable and the Business Council are another mechanism by which the corporate community influences policy making. In 1994 for example, they mobilized the corporate community to accept NAFTA (Domhoff 172). The last stance Domhoff takes to explain that a corporate rich governing class or dominant class exists is by comparing it to alternative viewpoints which is necessary to show why his reasoning is valid. In the case of pluralism as mentioned above, many loopholes exist that allow the corporate rich to come into picture and have influence. Historical institutionalism is the second system Domhoff argues against. This system “emphasizes the independent power of the government” (Domhoff 208). However, a candidate for office taking money from corporations defeats this stance. This system also emphasizes party structure as key to shaping policy which works in the case of America’s unique two-party system. Corporate sponsored government agencies which are

Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that holds the morally right course of action in any given situation is the course of which yields the greatest balance of benefits over harms. More specifically, utilitarianism’s core idea is that the effects of an action determine whether actions are morally right or wrong. Created with the philosophies of Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), Utilitarianism began in England in the 19th Century. Bentham and Mill built their system of Utilitarianism on ancient hedonism (pursuing physical pleasure and avoiding physical pain). Although both of these philosophers agreed on the basic principals of Utilitarianism they disagreed on what exactly hedonism is.

Neoliberalism has been described by many authors as “the dominant ideology shaping our world today” (Saad-Filho and Johnston, 2005). Neoliberalism is an ideology for economic policy that many economies actively employ worldwide. The idea that neoliberalism is a reincarnation of liberalism suggests that they possess a number of similar core values as the development and demise of liberalism paved the way for neoliberalism to grow to what it has become today (Dag Einar Thorsen and Amund Lie, 2006). However, many people hold the belief that neoliberalism may have descended from liberalism, but should be clearly distinguishable from it’s predecessor. Neoliberalism holds similar values to that of economic liberalism, which is the idea of refraining from any state intervention in the economy, and should be left to individual participants in self regulated markets, which Thorsen and Lie (2006) believe should be seen separately to liberalism. The idea that state intervention should refrain from involvement in the economy touches off Neoliberalism’s

In capitalism, you are free to do what you want with your property, as well as your skills and talents. Nobody can take them from you unless you freely choose to give them in exchange for something that you find even more valuable or as a gift to a person or organization that you like.

‘Neo liberalism is responsible for most of the global economic problems we are experiencing today’

Utilitarianism is the ethical belief that the happiness of the greatest number of people is the greatest good. Jeremy Betham and John Stuart Mill are two philosophers that were leading advocates for the utilitarianism that we study today. In order to understand the basis of utilitarianism, one must know what happiness is. John Stuart Mill defines happiness as the intended pleasure and absence of pain while unhappiness is pain and the privation of pleasure. Utilitarians feel the moral obligation to maximize pleasure for not only themselves, but for as many people as possible. All actions can be determined as right or wrong based on if they produce the maximum amount of happiness. The utilitarian belief that all actions can be determined as right or wrong based only on their repercussions connects utilitarianism to consequentialism. Consequentialism is the belief that an action can be determined morally right or wrong based on its consequences. Just like any other belief system, utilitarianism faces immense amount of praise and criticism.

Utilitarianism is a limiting ethical theory that fails to grasp ethically reality. “The greatest good for the greatest number” is not ethically right in every situation. Although the majority would benefit, the minority will heavily suffer. Considering the overall consequences of our actions, the good may not always outweigh the bad, but this does mean that the good will be the ethically right thing to do. One may think they are “maximizing the overall good,” but in reality, harming many.

(B. Kamiński 225). However, the package was met with a flurry of criticism from prominent economists and journalists. Echoing the key principles of neoliberalism, the economist Tomasz Jeziorański argued that the principal weakness of the package consisted in granting the full responsibility for economic performance to the central administration. The free enterprise characterized by responsibility and autonomy, he insisted, was incompatible with economic coercion by the state (B. Kamiński 226). As a consequence of protests of similar nature, the government eventually withdrew the package in question from further consideration.