1.0 Utilitarianism

Question 1

Bentham: The Motivation of Human Beings

Answer 1

• Humans were motivated by pleasure and pain (hedonism)
• All humans pursue pleasure and sought to avoid pain.
• Pleasure was a sole good and pain a sole evil.

Question 2

The principle of utility

Answer 2

• When faced with an ethical decision, we should choose the course of action which maximises pleasure and minimises pain for the greatest number of people.
• Usefulness / Utility: refers to the amount of pleasure or happiness caused by the action
• “Greatest good for the greatest number”
• Theory is democratic because pleasure can’t be for one person alone.

Question 3

What makes an action right?

Answer 3

• ‘An action is right if it produces the greatest good for the greatest number’
• (If it maximises pleasure and minimises pain.)
• He used the ‘Hedonic Calculus’ to decide this.

Question 4

The Hedonic Calculus’s 7 Factors

Answer 4

1. Purity
2. Richness
3. Remoteness (Propinquity)
4. Intensity
5. Certainty
6. Extent
7. Duration