Utilitarianism Vs ethics

Examples of conflict between utilitarianism and the ethical

Suppose a close family member has an incurable disease that causes a long agony , generating suffering and pain, which despite not die . Is hospitalized and medical diagnostics indicate that die within a year if kept alive. You as his only surviving family you know that when you die , inherit a business with high yields and economic future, which indicates that your financial life will be loose and carefree.

You have in your hands the option to shorten the agony realizing it very discreetly , without blame you much less that this promising heritage affected. If you follow him to utilitarianism , then you would have a moral obligation to do so since the time of agony reduce him to your family you are not only gaining happiness and peace but it will also remove him suffering and pain. The gain in the direction of use is obvious. However it is clear that the killing or euthanasia would be a strong right to life rape .

The main purpose of this example is that utilitarianism led to the passage of an act of homicide is a serious to the most important individual right violation .

Another example would be when applied to social justice :

In a hypothetical situation where subsistence wages require a small group of immigrant workers to continue farming the most undesirable jobs in an economy, but produce large amounts of satisfaction to society, because they enjoy discounts and vegetables help its economy to save money that can satisfy other desires.

Suppose the amount of satisfaction of society in general is greater than the unhappiness of the small group of workers , then , according to utilitarianism , it would be morally right to continue with the same system of subsistence wages for workers. However, in a social system that imposes unequal burdens is clearly immoral and an affront against social justice.



The main difficulty with the ethics of utilitarianism is that it is unable to handle two moral issues such as: the rights and justice , as the utility principle implies that certain actions are morally right when in fact they are unjust or violate the rights of people .