Procedural Equality Essay Example

p. ) so there a neutral ranking of profiles defined only by utilities. Likewise, the Strong Pareto Principle envisions a utilitarian measure of political and civic order wherein social conditions are acceptable and favored when they result in the bettering of conditions for one individual or a group of individuals if that bettering results in no harm to other individuals or groups.

In relation to Procedural Equality, the Strong Pareto Principle stresses the neutrality of procedural adn governmental actions and policies by suggesting that individuals, not groups or identifiable races or cultures, are determined by a utilitarian means of evaluation to have either prospered at cost or at no cost to others (according to the Strong Pareto Principle) and therefore judgments of a civil or societal nature should benefit the consensus as well as the individual.

Additionally, the Strong Neutrality Principle suggests that ethical and civil deliberations require first and foremost a concentration of the utility of the resultant decisions and policies and not the arbitrary considerations which may accompany non-utilitarian approaches. Strong neutrality must accompany attempts to achieve Procedural Equality; there is no doubt that by means of the utilitarian principles associated with Procedural Equality, the well-being of those impacted would be put to the forefront of considerations.

Such is the goal of Utilitarian ethics and philosophy. In this regard Cardinal Utility functions, those which serve the greatest good for the greatest number, such as Procedural Equality, are manifested in both legal and economic paradigms. In ethical terms, the Cardinal Utility that is associated with civic and governmental policy is of the highest importance. The subjective, Ordinal utility functions play no

role in the notion of Procedural Equality.

The importance of Procedural Equality to the ethical system of Utilitarianism is that of a macrocosmic theory being applied in microcosmic, or at least, specific, form. The great advantage of Utilitarianism over other ethical systems is its ability to be both quantified and precisely measured. For the most part, by applying the Principles of Strong Neutrality, the Strong Pareto principle, and the notion of Cardinal Utility functions, to a specific issue such as Procedural Equality, the pragmatic and theoretical dimensions of Utilitarian ethics are made manifest.