03 Teleological Ethics: D Classical Utilitarianism - Jeremy Bentham's Act Utilitarianism: Happiness As The Basis Of Morality Flashcards
(39 cards)
What type of utilitarianism does Jeremy Bentham believe in?
Act utilitarianism.
What type of theory is utilitarianism?
-Relative
-Teleological
-Consequential
Who created utilitarianism?
Jeremy Bentham.
What was Jeremy Bentham concerned with?
social conditions of his day.
What type of approach to ethics does Bentham reject?
absolutist
What did Bentham call absolutist approaches to ethics?
“Nonsense on stilts”.
Who was Jeremy Bentham?
An atheist who rejected legalism.
What did Bentham believe that human beings were motivated by? What does this make him?
Pleasure and pain. He was a hedonist.
According to Bentham, what do all humans pursue?
pleasure
According to Bentham, what do all humans avoid?
pain.
According to Bentham, what do pleasure and pain identify?
What we should and shouldn’t do.
As a hedonist, what does Bentham believe is the soul good?
Pleasure
As a hedonist, what does Bentham believe is the soul evil?
pain
What is hedonic utilitarianism?
Belief that pleasure is the soul good and pain was the soul evil.
What does ‘hedone’ mean in greek?
pleasure
What is Bentham’s main principle?
The greatest happiness for the greatest number.
What is the principle of ‘utility’?
The greatest happiness for the greatest number.
What is act utilitarianism?
The principle of utility should be applied to every act performed in each situation.
According to Bentham, when is any act justified?
if it produces ‘the greatest happiness for the greatest difference’.
What did Bentham devise?
The ‘hedonic calculus’.
What is the ‘hedonic calculus’?
a tool to measure pleasure in each moral situation.
What was hedonic calculus used for?
To maximise the quality of pleasure.
What was Bentham not concerned?
What form the happiness came.
Quote Bentham saying that all pleasures are equal.
“pushpin is as good as poetry”.
