Week 2-Post 2

      One of the most influential types of moral theory is utilitarianism. The philosopher Jeremy Bentham was the first to define the utilitarian theory. His idea was that the right thing to do when making moral decisions, is to maximize utility. By utility, Bentham meant the balance of pleasure over pain, happiness over suffering. He arrived at this principle by observing that all human beings are governed by the two sovereign masters pain and pleasure. So, it is only right that any moral system must take account of them. Utilitarianism also plays a role in legislation or companies. For example, the utilitarian related logic of cost-benefit analysis, was used by Ford in the 1970s. The Ford Pinto car was a small car with the fuel tank located in the back of the car. In rear collisions, the fuel tank would explode and injure/kill people. Ford was sued, and it was found that Ford already knew the risks, but after conducting a cost-benefit analysis of what it meant for the company, they saw that the cost of repairing the car would be more than the amount they earn from repairing the car. These results convinced Ford to not change the design of the Pinto car. Although, to calculate this, Ford put a monetary value on a human's life. While some argue it is not possible to place a value on a life, the philosopher, Edward Thorndike, did believe it was possible. He tried to prove that it is possible to translate all goods, values, human concerns, into a single uniform measure with a study he conducted. He asked people how much they would have to be paid to undergo certain awful situations. From the data he collected, he concluded that any want or satisfaction which exists, exists in some amount, and is therefore measurable.

     These theories reveal the deeper moral reasoning used by certain establishments. They propose ways to think about a situation in terms of what will be valued when deciding whether something is morally permissible. With the Ford Pinto car case, it caused so much damage for people, yet in terms of their utilitarian logic, Ford's decision can be proven morally right regardless of the suffereing caused, because they valued the overall result of happiness for their company. But then, if you were to apply reasoning like categorical moral reasoning, where you focus on the duties/rights humans have, this decision could be stated as morally wrong since they are taking into account the rights owed to drivers of Ford Pinto cars. This just shows how difficult it is to strictly define what the right thing to do is in philosophy when there are multiple ways to view a situation.