Utilitarianism The Problem You are being asked

One of the first questions you must ask yourself is will you play this game at all. You did not create this situation and so do you have any obligation to consider the choices placed before you. Jonathan Baron, in his analysis of morality and rational choice, notes that most legal systems do not hold people responsible for failing to aid someone in need. Consequently, you probably have no legal obligation to participate. Thus, you must ask yourself whether you have a moral obligation to do so. Is it better to hurt someone through an action or through failing to act? Generally, we tend to believe that an act is worse than the omission. Thus, if you fail to act you may feel you are not responsible for whatever the outcome of the captain's game. If you feel no moral obligation to particip

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ou are to follow the principles of utilitarianism you must shoot one person. Williams argues that utilitarianism does not take into consideration the idea that each actor is personally responsible for his or her actions rather than for what other people do. As Paine explains, utilitarians ignore the relation between right conduct and good persons by assuming that right conduct would naturally be performed by good people. In other words, you must first determine what the right conduct would be without regard to your own personal moral position. If you conduct yourself in that manner, you are a good person. You may say to yourself that a social theory that requires you to ignore your fundamental moral beliefs does not seem to be a very good social theory. You would then have come to the issue that plagues most critics of utilitarianism. Paine, for example, believes that attitudes, motives, emotions, and other qualities of agents must occupy a fundamental position in an acceptable moral theory and that the moral values we attribute to persons and their characteristics cannot be adequately explained by reference to maximizing action. She would reject any theory of utilitarianism that required you to deny your moral dilemma.
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Approximate Word count = 1584
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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