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According to Bentham, "the morally correct act is that which brings the greater amount of pleasure to the largest number of people". What problems do you foresee for such a view? How would you modify it? Do you agree that pleasure and pain motivate everything we do and should so motivate us?

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Final answer:

Bentham's utilitarian view that the morally correct act maximizes pleasure for most has issues, such as justifying inherently wrong acts or conflicting with justice.

Step-by-step explanation:

Jeremy Bentham's principle that "the morally correct act is that which brings the greater amount of pleasure to the largest number of people" is based on the ethical theory known as utilitarianism.

This theory assesses the moral correctness of an action by its consequences, specifically in terms of the happiness or pleasure it produces. However, there are several problems with this view.

One key issue is the potential justification of acts that may be inherently wrong or that may violate individual rights, as long as they result in a net increase in pleasure.

Additionally, utilitarianism can come into conflict with principles of justice; for example, it could justify the punishment of an innocent person if it leads to greater overall happiness.

To modify this view, one could incorporate rule utilitarianism, which seeks to determine the rightness of actions based on adherence to rules that generally promote the greatest happiness.

Alternatively, one could integrate elements of deontological ethics to ensure that certain moral rights and duties are respected regardless of the outcomes.

As for the motivation of all our actions by pleasure and pain, while this Hedonistic motivation may indeed influence many decisions, it's not an exhaustive explanation for all human behavior.

Moral, cultural, and personal principles also play significant roles in our decision-making processes.

User Tabriz Atayi
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Answer: Pleasure and pain motivate most of what we do.

Step-by-step explanation:

The morally correct act brings greatest amount of pleasure to much people but we still have to consider that people's choices vary in life. So, if the morally correct act could achieve the greatest then it simply shows that there would be little problems since a greater proportion are satisfied but it could also lead to an abuse of that who are not of the same group.

Pain and pleasure motivate most of what we do. The pain of discomfort motivates us to get comfort for ourselves, the pleasure of comfort makes us go throu the pains to get those comfort. Although we may want to deny it but pain and pleasure drives what we do.

User Badal Shah
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