philosophy aspects

Name
Professor
Philosophy
Date
Physicalism, hard determinism, utilitarianism and deontology in philosophy
Physicalism or materialism is the philosophical idea about the world on the perception that everything is a manifestation of the physical aspects of existence. One of the scientific evidence of physicalism is the human body system. When one clenches and unclenches their fists repeatedly, arms muscles contract and relax respectively (A. Melnyk, 2003). The decision of the person is not entirely sufficient for the actions of the muscles to take place. However, there is no problem since these actions occur nevertheless. Processes that occur in the skeletal muscles of the human body are well explained biologically.
Hard determinism suggests that every event (in addition to human action) is the result of the prior causes operating according to nature. This means that if we could rewind situations to sometime before, and play the sequence, we will get exactly the same results. Discoveries by famous people like Newton, Copernicus, and Kepler have suggested that we live in a deterministic universe. One of the scientific evidence of this has been based on the scientific brain experiments. These tests show that our minds appear to make decisions before we can actually do them. However, this observation has not convinced everyone.
Utilitarianism principle states the correct action is the one that brings out maximum happiness (R Crisp, 2002). However, one of the weaknesses of utilitarianism is that it would require us to violate certain standards of justice.

For example, if there is some sought of unrest in a town due to a crime committed, if the suspect is arrested whether guilty or not, peace will be restored. Therefore, the happiness of one person is sacrificed for the other many, which is inhuman. Deontology follows that morality should be based on a set of rules. The negative of this theory is that it removes the sense of sympathy and emotions.
Works Cited
Crisp, Roger. “Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Mill on Utilitarianism.” 2002.
Melnyk, Andrew. “A Physicalist Manifesto.” 2003.