UT

Question 1

Bentham 1748-1832

Answer 1

ACT UT ( founded movement: Philosphical radicals)

Question 2

Mill (1806-1873)

Answer 2

RULE UT- first person to call for votes for women in parliament.

” Better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be socrates dissatisfied then a fool satisfied”

Question 3

Peter singer- 1946-

Answer 3

Preference UT ( influenced by his teacher RM Hare)

Question 4

ACT utilitarianism

Answer 4

Purpose of morality is to make a world a better place. Morality is about producing good consquences not having good intentions, bring most benefit to all of humanity. Puspose of morality is to guide people’s actions in such a way to produce a better world. Thus, UT is about the consquences ( consquenalist and telelogical ethical theory)

Question 5

ACT UT fundamental imperative:

Answer 5

always act the way that will produce the greastest Overall amount of happiness

Question 6

ACT UT- action?

Answer 6

Ethical theory for society to live by- should decide how to balance pain and pleasure, action that produces most pleasures for the most people ought to be informed.

Question 7

Principle of utility

Answer 7

ACT UT0 theory of usefulness- the greatest happiness for the greatest number, this should be applied directly to every single action. Judges each ethical dilemma on its indiviual situation and would act based on how we saw the action.

Happiness= Pleasure- pain

Question 8

What was the sole good in life for Bentham?

Answer 8

Pleasure was the soul good in life and pain the sole evil, thus he was a hedonist ( One who believes the pursuit of pleasure is most important)

Question 9

What was the hedonic calculus

Answer 9

1. Purity- Measuring tendency of pleasure to produce pain
   2.Remoteness- distance of anticipated benefits
2. Richness- Likelihood that pleasure will be followed by more pleasure
   4.Intensity- Power of the pleasure
3. Certainty- Probability of the act resulting in pleasure
4. Extent- Number of people affected by the action
5. Duration- length of pleasure

Question 10

Act UT strengths- 1

Answer 10

• Assesses individual situations one by one and thus produces a unique answer fit for complexity of human life

-Hedonic calculus discourages monstrous behaviour by ensuring likelihood of pain is always considered in any condition

-Everyone is a competent judge and everyone’s happiness is worth as much as everyone else’s

Question 10

Act UT strengths- 2

Answer 10

Clear theory based on single principle and accessible via common sense. clear and consistent ethics anyone can understand

Flexible- avoids pitfalls of absolutist ethics

Equality/ democracy- interests of all people and favours majority

Question 11

Act UT Weaknesses- 1

Answer 11

Time consuming and life cannot be stopped whilst run through question of if we should kill someone to protect ourselves through hedonic calculus

Reduces morality to mathematical formula, ignoring other values we should still strive for such as compassion, equality and love

HC seems unreliable likely that two people wull apply it to same situation and get different results

Question 12

Act UT Weaknesses-2

Answer 12

1. Contradictory: what is more important greatest happiness or greatest number? Pojman example of competition as 3 peiple run different distances in different times, cannot measure who did best. can’t measure.
2. Difficult to predict outcome of every action- cannot predict future-
3. No rest objection- no rest from doing good, no time to have own pleasures
4. Williams- UT can cause us to go against deeply help moral principles, compromising our moral integrity.

Question 13

what did mill argue about act UT?

Answer 13

Mill argued that the greatest good for greatest number should not be quantitative matter, quality of pleasure should also matter

Question 14

Rule UT higher pleasure and lower pleasure?

Answer 14

Higher pleasure: of the mind and intellectual e.g. Theatre

Lower pleasure: sensual and physical e.g. sex and sweets

Question 15

(Rule UT)component judges?

Answer 15

Someone who has experiences both higher and lower pleasures thus can distinguish between both

Question 16

Rule UT

Answer 16

Rule UT: an applies moral rule, basical moral rule that allows society to function, consquences of having everuone follow particular rules and calculate overall rules

Question 16

Strong rule UT and weak rule UT? ( Rule UT)

Answer 16

Strong rule UT: strong form of theory that maintains that rules established through application of UT principles should never be broken

Weak Rule UT: weak version tries to account for the possibility that those same UT principles can take precedence in a particular situation over a general rule, however rule would still form part of the decision making process

Question 17

So overall what does Rule UT do?

Answer 17

Looks at consquences of having everyone follow a rule and calculated overal utility of accepting or rejecting the rule.

Question 18

Strengths of Rule UT- 1

Answer 18

More consistent than bentham, due to rule making, less vunerable to indiviual interpretations of events and their consquences

Argues for quality over quantity of pleasure, higher pleasure enrich our lives and develop human abilties

Question 19

Strengths of Rule UT- 2

Answer 19

Not just about the consequences as improving people, can use Bentham’s HC many times but not grow and develop as a moral agent

Recognises pleasure is complex and different for different people

Question 20

Weakness of Rule UT- 1

Answer 20

Component judges- who is a component judge? seems elitist when the poorly educated or those in poverty cannot access “higher pleasure”

Rule UT is too rigid- fails to consider complexity of indiviual situations

Question 21

Weakness of Rule UT- 2

Answer 21

No clear guidance on how to decide between 2 possible actions where both could potientially produce higher pleasure for peiple

Higher and lower pleasures are hard to define

Question 22

Preference UT-

Answer 22

Someone who wants to maximise satisfaction of what sentient beings want, their desires need to be satisfied and minimising suffering.

Extends UT to include all sentient beings (animals)

Question 23

Altruism? ( P UT)

Answer 23

Selfess concern for wellbeing of others, any theory which puts need of others first.

Question 24

What does peter singer think of hedonist UT?

Answer 24

Thinks Hedonist UT is for people who can't imagine their own future and preference is for people who can, so we should consider all the people affected by our actions

Question 25

What was preference UT?

Answer 25

Preference UT to be influenced by self awareness as babies should not be considered persons until they're one month old, certain animals will be valued higher than babies.

Question 25

Negative UT: Karl popper

Answer 25

actions should strive to create or maximise pleasure but should seek to reduce amount of suffering and pain existing in society, avoidance of pain more important than creation of pain

Question 26

Ideal UT: GE Moore

Answer 26

Accepts consequentialist approach but not hedonism, should value ideals above pleasure and seek to act in a way what would maximise these ideals: beauty, peace, justice, truth. (supports singer)

Question 27

Strengths preference UT- 1

Answer 27

Palmer- " a hermit cannot be condemned for leading an asocial life since, being friendless has achieved his desire" so allows flexibility of choice. Consquentialist- overcomes problem of NML secular so it doesnt bring God into it Extends ethics beyond human and considers suffering of animals aswell

Question 28

Weaknesses of Preference UT- 1

Answer 28

Always more than one preference in the picture- whose becomes more important? May be antisocial or irrational Sometimes prefer that which is no benefit to us all

Question 29

Weaknesses of Preference UT- 2

Answer 29

Not simples moral rule does not give clear answer in a complex situation Impossible to predict future and possible consequence of an action Differences of definition of sentience Singer doesn't attribute full rights to unborn babies.