The tendency to ignore contrary evidence or overstate existing evidence when investigators believe they have identified the guilty party is a likely practice of a. religious ethicists. b. the ethics of care. c. utilitarianism. di. ethical formalists. 1

The correct answer is letter C

Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics that presents useful action as the best action, the right action.

The most common description of utilitarianism concerns the well-being of sentient beings, those who are capable of feeling pain and pleasure, in some cases even non-humans. This description is the reason why, in modern times, utilitarianism has been used in discussions about the suffering of non-human animals and ethical aspects involved in the production of animals for food purposes. For Bentham, utility is the aggregate of pleasures, after deducting the suffering of everyone involved in an action, a kind of liquid pleasure, which would be the basis for happiness. Stuart Mill, on the other hand, had a broader concept, focusing his efforts on rules rather than individual moral actions. In this concept, Mill included not only quantity, but the quality of pleasure, which contributed to the sophistication of the debate. Some authors, on the other hand, tried to develop the so-called negative utilitarianism, which denies the positive value of pleasure, trying to define the utility in terms of suffering, in this way, the most useful would be the one that causes the least suffering. Other variations, such as those by Henry Sidgwick, R. M. Hare and Peter Singer, include satisfaction of preferences and even more ingrained moral values in the concept of utility.