THIS WEEK’S ASSIGNMENT: At some point in your life, I hope you have observed some of these normative theories in action. Choose a situation from your life and describe how it applies to one of the theories you have just read about in Chapter 2 (Kant, Egoism, Utilitarianism, Good Will, Prima Facie Obligations, others, etc.). Discuss why you identified that particular situation with the stated theory. Be sure to describe the situation or example. If you have not observed a theory in action in your life, find an example in our history and discuss how the theory applies to the situation.
I resonated most with the utilitarianism theory. I feel like this concept applies to many aspects of life; from working on group projects and finding a compromise between all members to find what fits the group best, to being a business owner and making decisions that will bring the most happiness to all customers and employees. I find most of my decisions are based on how the outcome with affect others and I like to think that I make decisions that will best benefit everyone as a whole. For example, whenever I am placed into a group project at school, I usually step up to be the project leader and try to incorporate everyone’s ideas to ensure everyone’s happiness and content with the project outcome. The utilitarianism theory is applicable to many situational decisions in life and I believe most people base their decisions on what is best for all of those affected.
1 Comment for “M2 (Bohan)”
ideasaw
says:I agree, the concepts of utilitarianism theory are very relevant in everyday life. Although I resonated with Kant’s theory more, I definitely see the relevancy of utilitarianism theory in everyday life. In my sophomore year playing basketball at SCC in Arizona, my coach viewed myself as our teams best all-around player. However, we had a game where we were down by 3 points with 5 seconds left in the game and we had the ball. I averaged the most points on the team and was considered our best player, but instead of drawing up the play for myself he drew it up for my teammate Tyler. Although I was a good shooter, Tyler was an excellent three point shooter. In that situation, our coach elected to draw the play for Tyler. Despite the heat my coach may have gotten for not giving me the ball at the end of the game, he elected to make a decision that he knew would give our team the best chance to win. In fact, we did end up winning. Although this example doesn’t quite pertain to ethics directly, I have seen utilitarianism decision-making in aspects of my life.