Reading 00: Reading Response

Typically, when I determine if an action is right or wrong I weigh all of the possible benefits and consequences of that action and look at which is greater.  In this sense, I believe that I typically depend on the utilitarian approach that is described in the reading from Brown University.  In this reading, this approach is described as “a system in which actions could be described as good or bad depending upon the amount and degree of pleasure and/or pain they would produce”.  I believe that this description closely matches up with the system that I use when I try to assess whether an action is right or wrong.  In my system, I look at all of the potential benefits and consequences that could happen for myself and also the other people that this potential action could impact.  In that way, I try to figure out if the action is more good than bad and also look at more than just how this action impacts myself, but try to look at the larger picture instead of just my own little world.  I believe that through this system, I can most broadly look at the impact that an action has on the world and then decide whether or not I should consider the action right or wrong.  This system that I employ also uses some of the other systems described in the reading.  One of such systems is the egoistic approach.  I use this approach when I look at the potential benefits and consequences that an action has on solely myself.  As I mentioned, this is not the only thing that I look at as I also look at the benefits and consequences an action will have on other people, but I do take into consideration the egoistic beliefs and look at how an action will impact myself.  Similarly, I believe that I also use aspects of the common good approach when I look at the potential benefits and consequences that an action could have on the people around me and the people that this action could impact.  While both the common good approach and egoistic approach solely look at the benefits and consequences of the people and the self, respectively, I try to weight both in my decision of deciding whether an action is good or not because I believe that both are important in this decision.  I do not believe that one of these systems is “better” than the other and I believe that both must play a role in truly deciding whether or not an action is good or not.  If one does not look at their own self interest, then they could become unhappy and may not engage in any self pleasing actions.  If one only looks at their own self interest, they could quickly become self centered and may be off putting to others around them.  This is why I will look at both my own self interest and the people around me when looking at how to discern whether an action is right or wrong.