Current Event & Ethical Perspective - Essay Example

There are many people who feel that it is immoral for a civilized society to condone the murder of its own citizens even if they willfully take the lives of others. There are also people who feel that capital punishment is necessary to deter those members of society who have baser instincts and are capable of committing atrocious acts on innocent people. The Utilitarianism and Ethical Egoism Theories. The theory of ethical egoism supports the notion that every individual has a right to act in ways that will mainly benefit their own lives.

This means that the correctness or wrongness of an individual’s action is based on that action’s outcome. In the theory of ethical egoism, the only right actions are those that advance the interests of the self while actions that minimize the importance of the self are wrong actions. Utilitarianism, on the other hand, is an ideology that asserts that an individual ought to conduct him or herself in a way that will benefit the larger community (Thiroux and Krasemann, 73). If an action contributes to the betterment of the larger part of society, then that is a correct action.

The Utilitarianism and Ethical Egoism Theories on Capital Punishment. According to the utilitarian point of view, capital punishment is important because it discourages people from conducting future acts of terror or perpetrating crimes on society. Thus it contributes to the furtherance of society. Advocates of utilitarianism would support capital punishment because there has been actual evidence in the past that has shown that capital punishment results in less crime. According to Thiroux and Krasemann, between 1995 and 2000, when there were at least 71 executions every year, the rate of murders committed dropped from 10.

2 per every 100,000 citizens between 1985 and 1994 to 5.7 per every 100,000 individuals in 1999 (Thiroux and Krasemann, 94). In nations such as China and Saudi Arabia, where capital punishment is not just the penalty for killing other people, but also for drug –related crimes, there has been a significant reduction in the numbers of these crimes in recent years. From the ethical egoist point of view, capital punishment could be a baseless and impractical practice because people who hurt others are actually doing so to promote their self interests (Heller, 286).

However, capital punishment could also be supported by ethical egoists because it results in their own individual safety by removing dangerous characters from the ethical egoist’s community. According to an ethical egoist, an individual is justified in doing as he wishes in spite of the possibility of his actions negatively affecting others (Heller, 198). This means that an individual can choose to support the death penalty or refuse it in different circumstances based on what happens to be in his best interests at that particular time.

The theory of ethical egoism supports the notion that it is only issues of self interest that are likely to inspire people to create advanced structures that will eventually benefit the entire society. Ethical egoists feel that the individual is above all state as well as national institutions. He can only be subject to them if he chooses to acknowledge them. Advocates of ethical egoism would claim that this theory is beneficial because self-interest has always been paramount in society. This is the only way through which various discoveries have been made.

Personal Views. The position of the utilitarian