What is the difference between ethical formalism and utilitarianism?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ethical formalism is what is good is that which conforms to the categorical imperative. Under this system, there is the belief that there is a universal law that includes clear rights and wrongs. There is a categorical imperative that requires that each person act as he or she would like all others to act (very much like the golden rule mentioned in the foregoing). People must seek to be guided by reason in their decision-making. Ethical formalism falls under a deontological system as the focus is on the act and its rightness (or wrongness) rather than on the consequences of the act and its rightness (or wrongness). It is a position that does not account for grey areas, an act is either right or it is wrong. So some acts, such as murder, lying, and stealing are always wrong even when the end of these acts is good. Utilitarianism is defined as what is good is that which results in the greatest utility for the greatest number. So morality is determined by how many people were helped by the act. The philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) believed that people will do a “utilitarian calculus” as regards how much pleasure or pain a given act will garner, and they will act on that to maximize pleasure. But when one’s pleasure conflicts with the greater good for society, then one must bow to the greater good, under a utilitarian perspective. As utilitarianism is focused on the end—whether it is moral or immoral or ethical or unethical—achieved by an act, it falls under the teleological system.