Utilitarianism - Ethics

Question 1

The two sovereign masters

Answer 1

Pain and pleasure

‘Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure’ - Bentham

Question 2

What type of theory is Utilitarianism

Answer 2

Consequentialist: cares about what the action leads to

Question 3

When is an action good in Utilitarianism

Answer 3

When it leads to the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people

Question 4

How to calculate pain and pleasure

Answer 4

Hedonic calculus

Question 5

Hedonic calculus

Answer 5

1) Intensity
2) Duration
3) Certainty
4) Fecundity (whether the pleasure will continue to be pleasurable if the act is repeated)
5) Propinquity (how far the pleasure is in terms of space or time)
6) Purity
7) Extent (how many will be affected)

Question 6

Mill’s Utilitarianism

Answer 6

Focus on ‘higher pleasures’ like attending the opera rather than doing drugs

Question 7

‘It is better to be…

Answer 7

… a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied’ - Mill

Question 8

Criticism of Mill and response

Answer 8

Plenty of times when mental cultivated people will occasionally give in to instant gratification or even sink into complete addiction to lower pleasures

He responds that everyone prefers the highest pleasures, but it doesn’t follow that everyone always chooses them over lower ones

Question 9

Rule Utilitarianism

Answer 9

An action is good if it conforms to a rule which tends to maximise happiness

This then splits into strong and weak:
Strong Utilitarianism is the view that the rules should be stuck to no matter the situation

Weak Utilitarianism is the view that the rules can be broken if it maximises happiness to do so

Question 10

Criticism of Strong Rule Utilitarianims

Answer 10

Simply becomes deontological and abandons the principle of utility as well as its consequentialism, becoming an empty deontological theory that follows rules arbitrarily, having abandoned its own supposed meta-ethical grounding

Question 11

Criticism of weak rule utilitarianism

Answer 11

It reduces itself to act utilitarianism as they would judge each thing in the moment

Question 12

The Harm principle

Answer 12

Mill thought people should be free to do as they will so long as they aren’t harming others

Question 13

Criticism of Utilitarianism of calculation

Answer 13

It requires we know the future and are able to make very complex calculations about range of possible actions based off of quantities of the abstracts of happiness and pain

Question 14

Bentham’s response to issue with calculation

Answer 14

He claims an action is right regarding ‘the tendency which it appears to have’ to maximise happiness, so we only have to expect what the outcome may be off of previous scenarios

Question 15

Mill’s response to issues with calculation

Answer 15

‘This is exactly as if any one were to say that it is impossible to guide our conduct by Christianity, because there is not time, on every occasion on which anything has to be done, to read through the Old and New Testaments. The answer to the objection is, that there has been ample time, namely, the whole past duration of the human species’ - Mill (being cold af)

Question 16

Bentham’s defence of his theory from human rights issues

Answer 16

He didn’t accept that a case like 10 torturers gaining pleasure from torturing one would be allowed as it’s more 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

The action of allowing torture produces less pleasure than the action which finds a way to make everyone happy - not just the torturers

Question 17

The repugnant conclusion

Answer 17

That extremely uncomfortable issues can be permissible by Utilitarianism e.g gang rape could have, at some point, the pleasure outweighing pain

Question 18

The issue of partiality

Answer 18

Utilitarianism doesn’t seem to account for special relationships within its quantitative system

Question 19

Mill’s response to partiality

Answer 19

Most people don’t have the opportunity to help a multitude of people so it’s good to just focus on those in our lives

Question 20

Criticism of Mill’s response to partiality

Answer 20

These days we have extensive charities all over the world, so Mill’s argument seems outdated

If we followed Utilitarianism rigorously it may ensue that all people do is donate and work for charity

Question 21

Burning building

Answer 21

If you could save a child or a Picasso painting which would you save? Most would choose the child yet Utility based ethics seems to suggest saving the painting would be better as we could sell it to save the lives of a hundred children

Giles Fraser argues saving in the painting suggests a lack of sympathy for the child and thus Utilitarianism encourages us to be immoral

William MacAskill responds that saving the painting suggests a more cultivated sympathy which is able to connect to many more children elsewhere who’s needs are greater than the individual child’s

But this highlights the overdemandingness as we cannot act to maximise Utility in every instance and so human empathy is a practical impediment to the implementation of utilitarianism