utilitarianism

Question 1

Utilitariansim

Answer 1

• a theory that an action is right if its produces the greatest good for the greatest number. = provide the most happiness and the least pain in a situation.
• Based on Hedonism: the beleif that pleasure is the highest good
• consequentialist = looks at the consequences
• teleological = purpose

Question 2

principle of utility = Bethams

Answer 2

• the theory of usefulness: the greatest happiness for the greatest number
• concerned with outcomes = teleological
• “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure’’– Bentham.
• Bentham’s principle of utility, or greatest happiness theory, assesses governmental actions based on their ability to maximise benefit, pleasure, and happiness or minimise harm, pain, and unhappiness.
• Utility should guide moral behavior to maximize the balance between happiness and sadness caused by actions, rather than adhering to moral commandments or rules.

Question 3

Bethams (1748)

Answer 3

• He wrote ‘the principle of morals and legislation’
• He stated that naturally we are ruled by two key things - pleasure and pain. This is called the principle of utility.
• he was concerned about passing laws i.e. the Crimial system, class etc = to bring radical change
• he wanted to create a society of right and wrong = and he believed happiness is the answer for this which could lead to the right ethical decsions
  “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure’’– Bentham.

Question 4

Hedonic Calcus

remember the acronym as DEPPCCI

Answer 4

• Bentham devised the hedonic calculus to maximise the greatest number for the greatest people.
• He weighed up the pleasure and pain of a situation by focusing on a list of seven criteria:

INTENSITY: a strength of pleasure - where pleasure is most desirable.
DURATION: the lengths of time it lasts, the longer should be sought
CERTAINITY: how likely it could be: more certain pleasures are more desirable.
CLOSENESS (propinquity): the sooner the better.
PRODUCTIVITY: fruitfulness = the action should go on producing further pleasure.
PURITY: freedom from pain
EXTENT: number of people that are affected

e.g if an indivdual wantd to create a sweatshop, it extent will be more as many will be experiencing pleasure as shoes are sold to millions. Only a few tthousand workers expeireicne pain. In terms of the duration, a shoe might not last long = links to business ethics

Question 5

stengths of hedonic calcus

Answer 5

• It has a morally democratic approach that seeks the fairest result
• The calculus is thorough In its consideration of measuring aspects of pleasure.
• its teleological so it relies on individuals to accurately predict the consequence of an action = however it s challeged by some that this is not always possible

Question 6

weakness of hedonic calcus

Answer 6

It is not clear how the Hedonic calculus resolves the problem of assessing the quantity of pleasure. For instance, how is it possible to quantify and compare intensity of pleasure with duration of pleasure?
The calculus does not prioritise or rank aspects of pleasure so can lead to confusion.

Question 7

Types of pleasure

Answer 7

*- According to Bethams the source of the types pleasure gained is irrelevant as long it is possible
- For a quantative utilitarianism moral pleasures & pains differ from physical one only in term of quanity

‘Quantity of pleasure being equal, push - pin is good poetry’ bethman

Question 8

Benthams version

Act Utiliatrianism

every action must be judged

Answer 8

• weighs up what to do at each individuals occasion = looks at the consequences of each situation
• each moral decisions situation is unique
• applies utility principle to each act.
• applies to hedonic calcus

Question 9

problem with act utilitarianism

Answer 9

• not practical: when faced with quick moral choices, we don’t have time to weigh up all the pleasure or pain involve,
• Hedonic calcus can be misued and not accurately followed = leads to unethical moral decision
• cannot truly know if an action will generate the greatest good for the greatest number- hard to predict.

Question 10

Mill versison

Rule Utilitarianism

Answer 10

• general rules that can be applied univservally to promote happiness = same rules for everyone
• creates a balance of good over evil
• should not be broken
• conducted weak rule as he believed that rules sometimes needs to be changed in extreme situations

Question 11

problems with rule utilitarianism

Answer 11

• how do you know if a situation is too extreme to break rules?

Question 12

Strength of Bethams utilitarianism

Answer 12

• it’s egalitarian: the moral view that everyone should be treated equally. No one’s person pleasure is more valued than others
• It provides people with decision making procedures: how do they know what is right in any given situation?
• focuses on the well being of human being: encouraging people to be kind to others
• it emphasises happiness: which according to many ethicist is common sense.
• It is reasonable to link morality with the pursuit of happiness and the avoidance of pain and misery.

Question 13

2 types of rules utilitarianism: weak and strong:

Answer 13

Strong rule:
- If we break rules, happiness would be threatened.

Weak rule:
- Able to break rules under some circumstance, = leads to the greater happiness.

Question 14

Weaknesses of Bethams Utilitarianism

Answer 14

• He implies ALL FORM OF PLEASURE of happiness are equal (this is a problem later attacked by Mill) pleasure gained by sadistic torture is as desirable as pleasure gained by friendship and knowledge
• MOTIVES has no importance in utilitarianism so it doesn’t matter at all why you do something therefore actions that promote happiness are GOOD
• NOTHING HAS INTRINSIC WORTH: pleasure makes things acceptable therefore breaking the golden rule from natural law.
• You cannot predict the future so the calculations cannot always be accurate.

Question 15

Mills version of utilitarianism can be describes as RULE utilitariansim, why?

Answer 15

• precisely because we do not have time to calculate accurately in every instance (as required by the hedonic calcus)
• rule utilairtariasm teaches that we should estabish rules based on the greates happiness principle and then follow these rules
• Mill pointed out that principles other than the principle of utility, at the very least, perform a important service by providing guidance for every dy moral life.

Question 16

John Stuart Mill (1806)

Answer 16

• He saw flaws in Bethams theory, specifically surrounding the emphasis that Bethams theory placed pure pleasure.
• He was a hedonist, but he stressed happiness over pleasure
• specifically, he argued that the pleasure of the kind is more better and valuable than pleasure of the body.
• QUALITY>QUANTITY
• was a peer to betham

Question 17

MILL

Criterion of compontent Judges:

Answer 17

• ‘Competent judges’ are people with experience of both higher and lower pleasures.
• Mill claims they always prefer higher pleasures to lower pleasures, thus demonstrating their greater quality.
• Mill now has his full answer to those who say Utilitarianism is a doctrine fit only for swine:

Question 18

MILL

Mill: Higher & Lower pleasure

Answer 18

• He argues that pleasure are intellectual ones: this is what makes human pleasure different and superior to animal pleasure.
• he realised that not many people opt for higher pleasure = and this is due to ignorane

His two forms of happiness:

• higher pleasure: are those which last long time and promotes happiness such as helping others
• lower pleasure: are those which re directed towards pure pleasure and happiness which usually temporary but significant such as eating and drugs

Question 19

Mills Quote:

Answer 19

• “it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied”
• this means that not all pleasures are equal. There are higher and lower desires and pleasures.
• it is better to be an intelligent and thoughtful human being who is dissatisfied than a satisfied pig, which is a much lower form of life.

Question 20

Mill produced his own principle of utility:

if needed

Answer 20

1. Happiness is desirable
2. happines is only desirable at the ends itself
3. General happiness of all is desirable = increase happiness of others increase your own

links to Jesus’ golden rule: ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ = Christianity emphasises the intrinsic value of happiness and fulfillment, not just as a byproduct of other pursuits.

Question 21

Strengths of Mill

Answer 21

• SAME STRENGTHS AS BETHANS
• Mill attempts to address the problem of justice evident in Benthams theory. it is possbile to eradicate some of the injustices on the grounds that rulesmake norm decisions and there is a distinction made between higher and lower pleasures.
• it avoids the time consuming calculations regulated by the hedonic calculus.
• quality > Quantity

Question 22

Weakeness of Mill

Answer 22

• SAME AS BETHAN
• Many will object to Mill’s claim…
• It emphasis pleasure of the mind is criticised for being intellecually elistist = implies those who are satisifed with thier life that is filled with ‘lower pleasure’ are living the life of an animal. (According to criterion of competent judges they have an ‘infirm characrter’)
• it is not always easy to distinguish higher and lower pleasures. (e.g. getting drunk may be lower pleasure but what if the pleasure comes from drinking wine that have spent years learning about)
• W.D. Ross says that it doesnt take into account for complex lives and moral descision = family takes priority over reason

Question 23

However, Mill responds to the claims that higher vs low pleasure

Answer 23

• This objection misunderstands his argument.
• Everyone prefers the highest pleasures they have been able to experience, but it doesn’t follow that everyone always chooses them over lower ones.
• The ability to experience higher pleasures requires careful cultivation which is easily lost, either due to falling into addiction, weakness of will/character, external pressures or lack of internal support.

Question 24

Preference Ultitarianism = Peter Singer (1946)

(beyond the spec/not in textbook)

Answer 24

• A modern form of utilitarianism
• this approach claims that we should not be concerned with trying to maximise pleasure, instead should take into account the preference of all individuals. ~(what’s in peoples best interest and the chance that everyone preferences are satisfied.)
• SINGER argues we should judge moral actions according to whether they fit in with the preferences of the individuals involved.
• “our own preference cannot count any more preferences of others”

Question 25

problems with preference utilitarianism

Answer 25

• difficult to calculate in all moral situations = to be able to asses everybody’s interest and then act according to it seems difficult
• We cant make incredibly complex calculations about the range of possible actions, sometimes under time-constraints.

Question 26

does Utilitarianism justifies bad actions and is against human rights? - problem of act utilitarianism.

Answer 26

• The moral basis of human rights is deontological because human rights are intrinsically good.
• This seems incompatible with consequentialist ethics like Utilitarianism, which argue that something is only good not because of anything intrinsic but depending on whether it leads to ‘the greatest happiness for the greatest number’

Question 27

however, Bentham didn’t accept that his theory had this consequence.

Answer 27

Bentham’s theory is not simply about producing more pleasure than pain. It is about maximising pleasure. An action is good if it maximises pleasure, meaning if it is the action which produces the maximum amount of pleasure possible.

E.G. In a case like 10 torturers gaining pleasure from torturing one person, that is certainly more pleasure than pain. The action of allowing torture produces less pleasure than the action which finds a way to make everyone happy – not just the torturers.

Question 28

Bentham’s response to issues with calculation

Answer 28

• Bentham claims that an action is right regarding “the tendency which it appears to have” to maximise happiness.
• To further defend Bentham, we could argue that we can measure subjective feelings.
• To be accurate enough to be informative.

Question 29

Goodness is relative to the results

Answer 29

• Utilitarianism: teleological ethical theory
• Decisions based on ends/results of good and evil
• Relativist ethical theory: not fixed or absolute rules
• Utilitarianism focuses on maximising balance of happiness/well-being over evil/pain
• Democratic kind of relativism, aims to maximise balance of good over evil