The two theories that will be compared and contrasted in this essay are Plato’s Idealism and Mill & A ; Bentham’s Utilitarianism. I chose these two theories because. to me. they are the 1s that seem to be the most realistic and interesting. The manner to acquire from the degree of the “is” to the degree of the “ought” of the Philosophers in these theories are the two bests.
In this essay. it will be shown that the two theories are non so different in their relation between the degree of the “is” and the degree of the “ought” ; it will be shown that Idealism would be a better theory for a society with extremely rational people. and that a combination of these theory would be the best manner for our society to germinate from the degree of the “is” to the degree of the “ought” . Plato’s manner to travel from the “is” to the “ought” is Socratic oppugning. He says that we should oppugn ourselves on whether the moral positions we have are ideal or non.
He besides says that the manner of looking at things we have is incorrect because all work forces are non the same. and so they do non hold the same sentiment of things. Part of his theory says that to acquire to true virtuousness ( ideal moral positions ) we have to pare down all the false moral positions we have and get to the basic. timeless. and unchanging forms of the Good. With those ideal moral positions we would be able to mirror the Good. Examples of false ideal moral positions for Plato are seeking for selfish pleasances such as nutrient. sex. and power.
For Utilitarians. the manner to acquire from the degree of the “is” to the degree of the “ought” is to honor or approve a individual for his or her actions. In Utilitarism people should take actions that are the most “utile” for them but besides for society. In other words they should take the most pleasant and less painful actions and effects for the greatest figure of people. The grade of public-service corporation ( grade of pleasance ) is determined by what is called “felicific calculus” . This pleasance reckoner is composed of different standards that caracterise the pleasance provided by a certain action.
They are intensity. continuance. certainty. propinquity. fruitfulness. and pureness. These caracteristics of pleasance are calculated for one’s ego and for the population that his or her action concerns. If an action is said to hold a reasonably good public-service corporation to one but a really large disutility to society. it is said to be an immoral action. In that sense selfish pleasances are immoral. In these two theories. the Socratic inquiring and the felicific concretion about play the same function in the manner that the consequence ( chosen action ) should be the same if one is ciphering the public-service corporation or one is mentioning to Socratic inquiring to take a determination.
The Socratic inquiring of Idealism brings the individual at the door of the right moral positions by paring all the beds of visual aspects and sentiments over a construct. Even if one is non seeking those ideal moral positions the felicific concretion should take one to the same ideal moral positions if it is good performed. In that sense these two theories are the same because they give the same concluding consequence. But one of the theories seems harder to recognize because everyone has to travel through a long procedure that non every person wants to execute or is able to execute. This theory is Idealism.
On the other manus. in Utilitarianism a graduated table can be made out to take people in the right manner ( and that graduated table is in fact nowadays in our society ) . These theories are different in the sense that Utilirianism is easier for a society to execute good. To give wagess and penalties. society needs an authorization outside the individual who acts ; this is why there are governements. theocracies and societal sentiments to steer people. Utilirianism is the most realistic because people do non hold to believe about what is right or incorrect. they merely have to follow the ushers ( rewards/sanctions ) .
The society we live in is clearly Utilitarian. The many wagess ( salary. regard. etc. ) and countenances ( prison. school failure. etc. ) reveal it. Everything plants in map of wagess and countenances. It implies that we merely have to follow the regulations given and no countenances should be given to us. If our society was Idealist. it would connote that we would hold to believe and make the Socratic inquiring at each quandary we have. This is impossible because non everybody is intelligent plenty to make so. and most of the people would non be willing to travel through that procedure.
There is a danger in holding a Utilirianism society. We merely have to believe of the United-States with the war they made to Irak. I believe that the population of that state trusted the felicific concretion graduated table ( which was “written” by the governement ) excessively much. because most of the population ( of the USA. of course… ) believed that war in Irak was a good thing. In that instance the graduated table of that population was incorrect because it did non care plenty about what Irakians truly wanted.
If that quandary had been good calculated. I am certain that they would allow Irakians reconstruct their state all entirely and halt busying the state. An Idealist society would take the clip and believe about that state of affairs. They would hold come to the decision that this war was non just and they would hold wanted to wait for existent cogent evidence of the presence of monolithic devastation weaponries before pelting Irak. Another job that Utilitarianism has raised is the sexual inequality. I believe that the state of affairs we are in is caused by an mistake in the graduated table of the felicific concretion.
The authorization in topographic point decided really long ago that adult females were inferior. and so cipher truly thinked about it ( or had the bravery to alter things ) until the first feminists motions. With an Ideal society that job would ne’er had occurred because Idealists ever ask themselves if what they do is right. They would hold understood long ago that this state of affairs is completelly incorrect. The best manner to travel from the degree of the “is” to the degree of the “ought” in our society would be to unite these two theories.
First. Idealism should be used by a group of intellectuals to make a graduated table that would be used in felicific concretion. Then. felicific concretion should be used by the population. The graduated table from the felicific concretion should be adjusted as clip goes on so that it evolves good with the new technological. economical and historical facts. But this is merely an utopic thought because cipher would be able to make and keep a “fair” felicific concretion graduated table since cipher can wholly acquire to the basic rules of morality.
