Strengths and Weaknesses of Utilitarianism

Strengths and Weaknesses of Utilitarianism The origins of utilitarianism are often traced as far back as the Greek philosopher Epicurus but the main idea is thought to come from Jeremy Bentham who said that Utilitarian argument worked by nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. There are two main different types of utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism states that, when faced with a choice, we must first consider the likely consequences of potential actions and, from that, choose to do what we believe will generate the most pleasure. The rule utilitarian, on the other hand, begins by looking at potential rules of action. To determine whether a rule should be followed, he looks at what would happen if it were constantly followed. Utilitarianism is a very solid and stable argument, I personally think that without knowing about it a lot of people use it to decide what to do, my example is what happened when I go home, I have two younger brothers and we always seem to fight over something, usually food, like the last bit of cake, or the last of the coca-cola. What my mum does without realising is a very Utilitarian idea, she says Oliver, you take three glasses and pour the coke out equally, then Giles and Theo, you choose. This way I try to pour all the glasses equally otherwise I get stuck with a really small glass of coke, because my greedy brothers would drink the glass with more in. Utilitarianism uses a lot of separate principles. Someone who accepts some of the principals but not others may be seen as a utilitarian. This mainly includes the whole of the human race. The Utilitarian argument has the strange ability to seem really obvious to who ever it benefits and completely wrong to the minority that it doesnà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢t benefit. e.g. rapists. There is another problem that there are no ethical arguments which are agreed by everyone, for example in certain eastern countries, people believe that woman who cheat on there husbands should be stoned to death, where as the general western society believe that this is completely wrong. However there are some points most people agree on. Rape, theft and lying are seen as bad where as, giving, helping and healing are seen as good things One obvious thing that these things have in common is that most of the things agreed to be good are things which make people happy, and most of the things agreed to be bad are things which make most people miserable. Bentham realised that there should be some sort of scale on which happiness can be judged. Bentham did this by proposing the hedonic calculus. The hedonic calculus lists seven features of pleasure to which attention must be paid in order to assess how great it is: intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and extent. This scale allows us to find the act which leads to the greatest pleasure. However there was a Philosopher after Bentham called John Mill, John Mill was a child prodigy who was able to read several languages at an early age, and the son of a follower of Jeremy Bentham. Perhaps the greatest British philosopher of the nineteenth century, Mill maintained that the well being of the individual was of greatest importance and that happiness is most effectively gained when individuals are free to pursue their own ends so long as they keep with the rules that protect the common good of all. While mill accepted the utility principle of the greatest good for t he greatest number he was concerned about the difficulty raised when for example there is the story of the bridge operator. The bridge operator took his son to work with him. He delighted in telling his little boy how everything worked and how important his job was, since hundreds of people relied on him to raise and lower this bridge so they could travel safely from place to place. The little boy beamed with pride as his father explained his job. He also greatly admired all of the switches that controlled the huge gears. But after a couple of hours of observing his father work, the boy grew bored, so his father sent him out to play. A short while later, the bridge operator realized that it was almost time for him to lower the bridge so the 5 p.m. commuter train could cross. But, as he was about to pull the switch that would lower the bridge, he glanced out the window to see that his son had apparently been climbing on the gears; and his foot was stuck. In fact, he was wedged betwee n the huge gears; alive, but trapped;and unable to free himself. The engineer was about to hurry to help his son when he heard the train whistle in the distance. Suddenly he realized that he did not have sufficient time to free his son, return to the control box, and lower the bridge in time for the passenger train to cross safely. But if he pulled the switch to lower the bridge, his little boy would be crushed in the massive turning gears in which he was entangled. He was forced to make a horrible choice: either his son would be killed, or a trainload of passengers would plunge to their deaths in the river below. Mill thought if the greatest good for the greatest number was purely quantities based on the quantities of pleasure and pain caused what would stop one persons pleasure from that act. To address this difficulty Mill focused on qualities pleasures. He developed a system of higher and lower pleasures preferring the higher pleasures to the lower ones. Mill said It is better t o be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied: better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied Benthams theory has a number of clear benefits. It seems reasonable to link morality with the pursuit of happiness and the avoidance of pain and misery and this connection would receive popular support. It also seems natural to consider the consequences of our actions when deciding what to do, utilitarianism offers a balanced democratic morality that promotes the general happiness. However there are a number of difficulties with utilitarianism the first difficulty concerns all theorys that rely on the consequences for deciding which actions are good. Need to be sure that what I think will come about as a result of particular action will actually come about. Utilitarianism depends upon accurate predictions.

Policing Levels, Roles, and Functions

As a Police Chief and seeing and experiencing a high degree of turnover in the department heads, and having to do a budget for the new fiscal year. This could be a trying time. Now the Mayor wants to hold a workshop with all the department heads and this is going to be tricky in getting everything done. The information that I will need to put together are:†¢Budget †¢Training †¢ManpowerIn addition, reports on crime and critical issues facing the city. Let us talk about the budget first! Here are the steps that I need to take: †¢I need to come up with a reasonable objective to the new fiscal year. As the Chief, I should have a preliminary figure and it should be realistic. I know that I can tweak it throughout the year. †¢I also know to consult other members of the department. For the reason that they know more about the day – to – day operation. †¢Ã¢â‚¬ Analyze inflow. Realistic expectations of income require analysis of the preceding budge ts. Before inputting preliminary numbers, compare month – to – month, quarter – to – quarter, and year – to – year figures from the previous year.†(n.d., Withrow)†¢Analyze outflow. Determine the unexpected expenses that might have an important factor on the budget. For instance, anyone retiring, any layoffs, possible hiring, training and any cost training and equipment for new employees. In addition, is any office equipment in need of updating? †¢Now to prepare the budget. Before I do the final draft, I should consult with other department managers. For the reason it could have an impact on the budget.Budgets need to be adjusting in order to have everything you need to run an operation. Now let us talk about training. As more and more higher-level officers are approaching retirement age and are retiring early, this is a problem for many police departments. Some will ignore the problem or would not think there is a crisis. Now I need to implement a Succession Planning Program to replace those that are leaving. For the most part, I do  have a plan to replace people leaving the department, but I do not have one for supervisors and managers. â€Å"The successor program I need to develop are more critical path in replacing investigators, specialists, supervisors, and managers,†(June 2006, Michaelson). Usually the human resource is responsible for developing future supervisors and managers programs. It is to my benefit to help the human resource office in developing a new program for future leaders.We could â€Å"develop the necessary skills or competencies based experiential set of scenarios, assignments, rotations, mentoring and coaching opportunities, and evaluations not only to provide the candidates with this experience but also to enable the agency to gain the benefit from this experience and information.†(June 2006, Michealson). I can assign young officers with veteran officers and give them opportunity to carry out a few tasks:†¢Ã¢â‚¬ Plan an event †¢Write a training bulletin †¢Review and make recommendations to improve or update department policies or procedures†¢Conduct training †¢Conduct research †¢Write a proposal †¢Write a grant †¢Write a newsletter article †¢Manage a committee write a report on the committee's actions and recommendations, evaluate the committee's success, and make a presentation on the committee's findings. †¢Assess equipment and supplies, research replacement costs and options, and recommend replacing or updating them †¢Counsel peers†¢Become mentor to young officers and college students †¢Make a presentation to a local community group †¢Conduct a program evaluation with recommendations †¢Write contingency plans†¢Write after – action plans †¢Work on unit effectiveness report, to include use of statistical analysis †¢Review the department's and the jurisdiction's master plan †¢Review staffing and budget requirements for the current and upcoming fiscal year †¢Determine how staffing and budget will affect the role of Sergeants and Lieutenants.† (June 2006,Michaelson).Even doing this I cannot forget the responsibilities of the â€Å"individual preparation for leadership, which requires:†¢Undertaking a formal academic course of study †¢Taking a team leadership role in department activities †¢Participating and leading in civil opportunities, such as parent – teacher associations and civic clubs †¢Networking with peers †¢Engaging in intellectual discussion groups†¢Attending voluntary conferences and training sessions †¢Reading the professional literature †¢Studying national and local reports and analyzing the reports results †¢Using the Web as a resource †¢Serving as a guest lecturer in college class or accepting other speaking engagement †¢Engaging i n research and reporting the findings.† (June 2006, Michaelson).In developing all of this, I still need to have all of it documented. This way I have the accomplishments and failures of them. Then I can advance them as needed. If my police department ends up becoming short of officers due to them leaving, retiring, etc. I could implement a program called Part-Time Reserve Police Officers. â€Å"Their responsibilities would consist of:†¢City hall security detail †¢Police department lobby entrance staffing to assist visitors †¢Increased law enforcement presence during special events †¢Prisoners transport and guarding for court appearances, medical care, and interjurisdictional transports †¢Uniform patrol augmental when staffing shortages occur as a result of long – term illnesses, injuries, workers' compensation leave, vacations, training, and so on †¢Supplemental resource for section commanders when incidents or details develop †¢Resou rce for disaster  incidents such as floods.† (January 2012, Williams, Crowe, and Lowe)â€Å"PTR police officers have reduced employment costs because part-time employees do ot earn vacation or sick time, holiday pay does not apply, and health care and retirement benefits are not available. These officers are issued department equipment and are covered by workers' compensation insurance for work-related medical incidents.† (January 2012, Williams, Crowe, Lowe)Now for crime report and critical issues, my sergeants and lieutenants could give me this information. Therefore, I would do these things as Chief of police. In which the budget, work force, training, crime report and the critical issue report, would be met for the fiscal year and for the workshop.

Positivism Theory Essay

Positivism, (also referred to as ‘empiricism’) is often used to indicate that this approach to understanding criminality is scientific. The term ‘positivism ‘ (or in its more sophisticated form â€Å"Logical Positivism†) is often used to refer to an approach that asserts it utilizes science or the scientific method (their version of science) to understand the causes of criminality and thus the solutions to solving it. Positivism is an epistemological position or a theory of knowledge which assets that science is based upon theories that have been induced from and only from empirical evidence or the evidence of the senses (hence the term ‘empirical’ or that which can be experienced by the senses). Positivists reject any evidence that cannot be objectively experienced or observed such as that derived from tradition, faith, magic, religion, philosophy or any other form of knowledge or belief that does not have an empirical basis. Thus they want to explain criminal behaviour by reference to causes that can be observed or measured. Causes have to be material and observable – biological positivists look at biological observables such as anatomical abnormalities, identifiable genetic or gene patterns, bodily movements etc. Psychological positivists will also look at biological observables but will add behavioural factors, child rearing practices and brain abnormalities that cause identifiable behaviour outcomes. Many modern scientists have virtually discredited positivism in favour of what we call the hypothetico-deductionist approach or a falsficationist approach. This approach begins with theoretical conjectures (or hypotheses) and then seeks to prove or disprove them by means of empirical evidence. However, whatever the differences in method both positivism and hypothetico-deductionism seek empirical evidence for their theoretical positions. Implicit in these approaches is the idea that the scientist is an objective disinterested observer of natural events with no preconceptions about them. In the case of physics these natural events or laws are said to be found in nature itself as, for example, in the study of such phenomena as the movement of the planets around the Sun, the effect of gravity on the tides and the phenomenon of the seasons created by the movement of the Earth around the Sun. In these cases the object of study is seen as governed by universal natural laws which the scientist has to discover. When this approach is applied in the human or social sciences we have to understand our object of study (i. e. human beings or societies) as also governed or regulated by rules that the scientist has to discover. Thus Biological Criminologists will use data from such sources as twin studies, family studies, genetic patterns, biochemical aspects and so on – anything that can be studied by means of ‘objective’, methods and which may throw up some biological explanation of that behaviour or a principle or a law that explains that behaviour. It follows that in positivist criminality, ‘criminals’ are identified as certain kinds Of human beings who are governed by events or natural phenomena that have been set in place by something external to them and, in a sense, beyond their control. Thus ‘criminals’ do not make decisions about their criminal behaviour they are, as it were, caused to behave in this way by factors that operate in a sense, ‘behind their backs’. Thus, so-called abstract views of human nature such as that they are rational and use reason in making choices about their actions have to be discarded as a cause of behaviour in favour of non-rational causes such as determination by such things as biological inheritance or forms of social conditioning or, in many cases, a combination of both (as in Eysenck). Positivists aim is to identify those with criminal tendencies – or those already classified as criminals and use them as their data base. Their goal is to ascertain what has caused their criminality and then to look for ways of ‘correcting’ such criminality or, even better, to ascertain those with tendencies for criminality (before hopefully they commit a crime) and to put some preventative measures in place. Biological positivists generally look for biological causes generally in genetic inheritance. A well know example is that of ‘Klinenfelter’s Syndrome’ where a study of known criminals identified was said to be an extra ‘y’ chromosome.

Debates On Global Warming - 658 Words

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