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PTE > 2.4 - utilitarianism > Flashcards

2.4 - utilitarianism Flashcards

1
Q

act-based ethics

A
  • is this action obligatory, permissible, impermissible?
  • asking about the moral status of a specific action
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2
Q

deontology

A

‘duty’, the idea that there are moral rules we should adhere to

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3
Q

consequentialism

A

an action is right if it leads to desirable consequences

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4
Q

who was Jeremy Bentham?

A

(1748 - 1832)
- a social reformer during the industrial revolution
- thought that the elite had too long profited from the exploitation of the oppressed majority
- devised Utilitarianism as a means to make society more equal by arguing that an action is only good if it produces the greatest good for the greatest number, that is, it best promoted human welfare across the board. If more people are better off as a result of your action, compared to the alternatives, then it is good.

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5
Q

hedonistic

A

‘engaged in the pursuit of pleasure’

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6
Q

points FOR consequentialism

A
  • more options, more flexible for each individual and each situation
  • utilitarian (best thing for most people)
  • takes into account the specifics for each situation
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7
Q

points AGAINST consequentialism

A
  • cannot predict all consequences of an action
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8
Q

points FOR deontology

A
  • set rules independent of personal opinion
  • generally close to natural law
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9
Q

points AGAINST deontology

A
  • what are the rules based on?
  • case by case basis
  • the rules may change as morals develop in different cultures (which ones are the right ones to follow?)
  • whether you agree with the rules or not, you have to do it (there’s never gonna be one set of rules that everyone agrees with), as cultures have changed so have morals
  • can’t be applied to every situation
  • doesn’t address responsibility for actions
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10
Q

Bentham’s theory

A
  • maximise good consequences and minimise pain
  • quantitative
  • intensity and duration
  • all different pleasures should be comparable in terms of a singular unit (like eating a chocolate button) - monism
  • utilitarianism requires us to be able to compare/quantify how much happiness or welfare is produced by one option vs others
  • BUT the problem is this suggests that the pleasure given by having a family that love you can be calculated in chocolate buttons and that having a few extra chocolate buttons than this number would compensate not having a loving family (which is not plausible)
  • BUT there’s different types of welfare and pleasure eg. intellectual pleasure
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11
Q

‘Nature has placed… It is for them… as well as…’

A

‘Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do’ - Bentham

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12
Q

The Hedonic Calculus

A

the 7 ways to measure pleasure:
Intensity,
duration,
certainty,
propinquity,
fecundity,
purity,
extent

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13
Q

certainty

A

(the hedonic calculus)
- how likely that pleasure is to be produced

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14
Q

propinquity

A

(the hedonic calculus)
- closeness of the action and consequence, time

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15
Q

fecundity

A

(the hedonic calculus)
- likeliness to happen again

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16
Q

purity

A

(the hedonic calculus)
- whether it causes pain as well

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17
Q

extent

A

(the hedonic calculus)
- how far a pleasure reaches through different people

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18
Q

problems with the hedonic calculus

A
  • subjective, hard to predict what will bring pleasure
  • pleasure might decrease with repetition so fecundity is hard to predict
  • some of the categories are easier than others
  • sheer number of factors/criteria make calculation hard, especially on a daily basis (moral paralysis)
  • We can end up pursuing things that are, in themselves, not that important to us even if they produce pleasure - eg. saving a little bit of time on your journey vs feeling happy and at home in your town, community.
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19
Q

defences of the hedonic calculus

A
  • Bentham doesn’t want you to get an accurate numerical answer, the criteria are just guidelines/pointers to develop reflection
  • he didn’t aim this at the everyday people but more at the government making policies as things to consider before making big, strategic decisions
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20
Q

tyranny of the majority

A
  • in utilitarianism, minorities are not protected, they count for little in comparison to the majority of the people
21
Q

John Mill’s theory

A
  • there are types of pleasures that are better in quality than others, and therefore override any quantity of a “worse” pleasure
  • ‘It is better to better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied’
  • Socrates knows both, the fool only knows their side so the only reason they may choose to remain a fool over being Socrates is because they don’t know what it is like to be Socrates
22
Q

is John Mill really a hedonist?

A
  • he says he is: “there is, in reality, nothing desired except happiness”
  • but he doesn’t give a reason for the qualitative distinction
  • THE HARM PRINCIPLE: no amount of pleasure can outweigh the necessity for individual autonomy
  • “Liberty is the only unfailing and permanent source of improvement’ - On Liberty, Mill
23
Q

what is desire theory?

A
  • welfare is equivalent to getting what you want
  • if you have a desire for an object and that desire is satisfied, your wellbeing has improved
24
Q

alternatives to hedonism

A

desire theory, objective list theory

25
Q

problems with desire theory

A
  • can have pleasure from something you don’t desire
  • might imagine scenarios where you get what you want but this might not in reality feel great
  • if something you desire happens, even if you dont have knowledge of it happening, your wellbeing will improve (needs to be specified that you must become aware of it)
  • you can desire things that are not good for you
  • or have poorly informed desires
  • may have two conflicted desires, how do you decide which to fulfil
26
Q

objective list theory

A
  • what’s good and bad for us ought to be objective, human needs/things needed in order to flourish might not be things we physically desire yet we still need them
  • your experience of your life doesn’t matter, we can work out that there are things which are not good for humans whether you want them or not
27
Q

problems with objective list theory

A
  • comes hand in hand with a kind of paternalism, where someone (eg. the state) acts like a parent to us which we may think is wrong once we’re an adult, in that we instead believe we should be responsible for all our decisions
  • objectivism of welfare can have a flavour of paternalism
  • matter of changes to your mental state - your mental state is not connected to your reality (NOZICK’S EXPERIENCE MACHINE)
28
Q

elitism

A

you would be better off if you were more like me, a better class of humans

29
Q

paternalism

A

sort of similar to elitism in that a parent says they know better and therefore guide the child (becomes patronising and elitist when targeted at adults)

30
Q

tyranny of the majority vs elitism/paternalism

A

tyranny of the majority is the majority telling the minority what to do and elitism/paternalism is a minority telling the majority what to do

31
Q

the utility principle

A

act always in such a way as to maximise net pleasure (Bentham’s theory)

32
Q

problems with the utility principle

A
  • practical problems in living life by this, especially with other peoples’ actions interfering
  • doing things for your own future (studying) is not being good because there are other things you could be doing to create more pleasure (eg. volunteering to support poor people)
  • overdemandingness - the requirement to maximise pleasure is a very high bar, doesn’t matter that you could be doing worse things, its still morally wrong because you could be doing better things that will produce more pleasure - it asks too much because it talks about quantities of pleasure
33
Q

Robert Nozick’s experience machine

A
  • if you were plugged into a machine that would simulate life’s experiences and you could choose any life to live, would you plug in? Even knowing you cannot return to live another life and that you leave behind your family and friends
34
Q

what is Nozick trying to show with the experience machine?

A
  • that there is something more to life than just the achievement of pleasure
  • an experience machine would not be able to fulfill human desires
  • a series of pleasures doesn’t equate to a happy or fulfilled life
35
Q

act utilitarianism

A

for every action, consequences should be predicted and inform our choice.

36
Q

pros of act utilitarianism

A
  • unique to each situation, not generalised so for example, if there is something blocking the left lane of the road, you shouldn’t stay there until the object is cleared but instead go into the right side of the road to go around the object (as long as the road is clear)
  • more likely to reach better outcomes
  • more informed, as you go through life you get better at making these decisions
  • only through these acts do we move in the right direction, eg. people choosing to be revolutionaries are wrong in the moment but become right in the future when people agree with their view (think suffragettes)
37
Q

cons of act utilitarianism

A
  • might not be possible to predict the consequences accurately
  • subject to personal opinion and some people may not be able to make the objectively right decisions
  • relies on being able to predict the acts of others too
38
Q

rule utilitarianism

A

general rules should be made based on typical consequences. We then follow those rules.

39
Q

understanding rule utilitarianism

A
  • the rules are a shorthand, a means of sidestepping the need to always work out what the right choice is
  • not deontology because it is still based on the most typical consequences of a choice!!
  • many people would claim that Mill is a Rule Utilitarian because his idea of following higher pleasures appears like a rule: the Socrates satisfied idea (following a rule even if it doesn’t appear like it will bring the biggest happiness)
40
Q

pros of rule utilitarianism

A
  • easier to complete, people can intuitively follow them without needing to consider the consequences on their own
  • not subject to personal opinions
  • creates order in society because everyone is making decisions based on the same set of rules (but pushes people towards the same way of thinking? limits change and growth within society?)
41
Q

cons of rule utilitarianism

A
  • pushes people towards the same way of thinking? limits change and growth within society?
  • doesn’t provide guidance for when rules conflict (stepping on the grass and saving the man)
  • if you had hyper specific rules for every niche situation (times when you can step on the grass), you are just leaning into act utilitarianism
  • still have to way up whether you should be following the rule in that specific circumstance so, again, just being an act utilitarian
  • how do we collectively decide what the rules are, when they change, which ones should change, etc
42
Q

examples for act utilitarianism

A
  • if there is something blocking the left lane of the road, you shouldn’t stay there until the object is cleared but instead go into the right side of the road to go around the object (as long as the road is clear)
  • people choosing to be revolutionaries are wrong in the moment but become right in the future when people agree with their view (think suffragettes)
43
Q

examples for rule utilitarianism

A

stepping on the grass and saving the man

44
Q

the experience machine

A
  • robert nozick
  • brain can plug into an ‘experience machine’ that will stimulate a reality of your choosing, once plugged in you cannot unplug for x number of years and will not know that your life is not real
  • would you plug in?
  • trying to prove that there is more to human desires/human life than just pleasure
45
Q

Bentham’s principle work

A

An Introduction to the Principles and Morals of Education

46
Q

is utilitarianism relativist or absolutist

A

relativist: it treats every individual situation independently, lying in one case might be right and in another wrong

47
Q

relativist vs absolutist

A

relativist - it treats every individual situation independently, lying in one case might be right and in another wrong
Absolutist - there are fixed rules about certain actions

48
Q

Bentham’s utilitarianism does not allow for what type of acts

A

supererogatory acts
(acts that go above and beyond duty)
- The need to maximise net pleasure means it is overdemanding, it always insists you do the best thing.
- can’t go out of your way to be a good person

49
Q

jim and the indians

A
  • lack of respect for the integrity of the individual is raised by Bernard Williams’ famous ‘Jim and the Indians’ thought experiment
  • Williams’ example shows that consequentialism disregards the agent’s own personal commitments and allows for negative responsibility
  • He kills one person to save others and is (according to a Utilitarian) completely correct in doing so
  • The repugnant conclusion

PTE (13 decks)

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