Consequentialism Essay

John Locke’s idea of Natural Rights created a whole new aspect of how the government should be constructed. Natural Rights is the freedoms people are born with and should be protected by the government, if not then the citizens have the right to overthrow the government since their rights are not being preserved. This Enlightenment ideal is an important aspect in both today’s world and during revolutionary periods

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, John Locke and Thomas Jefferson, both had an impact on influencing the development of liberal ideology. Due to this, the term “rights” is now prevalent everywhere in politics. “Natural rights” is the principle in which, every individual is born with rights and these cannot be removed by force or law. It is the entitlement to act or to be treated in a specific way. The essential human law of nature is the preservation of mankind. In order to maintain stability in society, Locke exclaimed humans should have a right and duty to live peacefully without any threat.

Bartel (1976) defines prosocial behaviour as ‘behaviour that intentionally helps or benefits another person’. Batson (1987) defines altruism as ‘helping another person for no reward, and even at some cost to oneself.’ This definition of altruism seemingly depicts the behaviour as selfless, however there is a wealth of research which suggests that this is not the case.

“Natural rights are those which always appertain to man in right of his existence. Of this kind are all the intellectual rights, or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of acting as an individual for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to the rights of others.” Philosopher Thomas Paine states a clear example of what is profound about the Declaration of Independence. This quote is an example of natural rights philosophy which is the idea that there are some rights we are born with as humans. Natural rights are rights that deem all “men” equal to each other.

John Locke was the man who began to express the idea of natural rights. The idea of natural rights is that all humans are born with three natural rights: life, liberty, and property. You are meant to respect these rights, which gives us limits as humans. For example, one can not just rob someone’s house without consequences. If someone does commit theft they are punished because they are

Altruism is defined as the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others. Why would someone think that certain actions are moral? There are two answers. First, altruism is naturally positive but on the contrary there are situations that decisions are made with morally bad tendencies and motivations, in circumstantial selfishness. Secondly, altruism is good because of its affirmative effects. The outcome of altruism does not only effect the person to whom the altruism is intended for, but it has its indirect ramification on society. There is truth to both of these answers. We all have experiences of acting out of an impartial concern for the health of a friend or loved one. These experiences that we have had seem to be an unambiguous instance of moral virtue. It seems likely that if our society had more acts of altruism, our world would be a better place to live than if there were no altruism at all.

Let’s discuss, what is the definition of altruism (altruism, definition)? I believe the meaning and purpose is altruism is a voluntary, costly behavior motivated by the desire(s) to help (another person) another individual. The other definition is altruistic, I believe altruistic meanings is showing, a disinterested and selfless concern for

Altruism is an unselfish act, done for the benefit or welfare of others with without any motive of gain or reward for it. In short an act done with the sole purpose of helping others and asking nothing in return.

Altruism refers to the concern for the welfare and well being of others without personal gains or

Altruism is the selflessness acts of an individual in which they involve themselves into the lives of other individuals in the hopes of positively affecting their feelings and/or well-beings. “Altruism and empathy permit the assessment of the extent to which volunteers perform voluntary service for selfless reasons” (Veludo-de-Oliveira, Pallister, & Foxall, 2015, p. 375). Veludo-de-Oliveira, Pallister, and Foxall believe in order for an interaction to be an altruistic one, “Firstly, the act must have the intention of benefit-ing others; secondly, the act must be initiated voluntarily by the helper; and thirdly, there should be no expectation of any reward from external sources.” (2015, p. 378).

Consequentialist: Focuses on the result of an action. The act is considered a good act if the result is good, likewise and act is considered bad if the result produced is bad. Under the consequentialist theory, we have Egoism and Utilitarianism.

1. Consequentialist moral theories see the moral rightness or wrongness of actions as a function of their results. If the consequences are sufficiently good, the action is right; if they are sufficiently bad, the action is wrong. However, nonconsequentialist theories see other factors as also relevant to the determination of right and wrong.

The behavior of altruism in an individual is when it brings more costs than benefits for the benefit of another individual. Altruism comes from the Latin word "Alter" which means "the others." This translation of alturism describes it relatively well. Another great definition of altruism can be found in a statement of Edward Osborne Wilson, an American biologist. According to Wilson, "Altruism is defined in biology, as in everyday life, as a self-destructive

Two examples or branches of consequentialism are egoism and utilitarianism. The definition of utilitarianism is simply, doing the most good for the most people. The definition of egoism is the habit of valuing everything only in reference to one's personal interest; selfishness. Egoism is simply about you and you’re self-interest compared to utilitarianism is looking at others interests. There are pros and cons to each branch; however I personally think egoism is the better model. Both represent or contain an aspect of ethics but, egoism I believe is reflected or more related to the average person in everyday life.

First, it is important to understand what altruism is. Altruism is any act carried out by an individual in order to benefit another individual. [1, 2] At first glance,