Bentham Flashcards
Teleological
Concerned with end purpose and consequences
Act utilitarianism
Morally good actions are those that max pleasure
Principle of utility- greatest good for greatest no
Relativistic: down to situation
Hedonic calc: method to measure pleasure - quantify happiness
Appalled by social cons of his time and set up certain moral laws
Laws= important (Create stability) but laws that existed at the time favoured the wealthy
Doesn’t believe in moral absolutes, pleasure only intrinsic good
Ethical naturalism and observable
Hedonic calc
Happiness = based on obs of nature - calc it objectively in terms of
Remoteness- how far in future is pain and pleasure
Purist - how free from pain
Richness - probability pleasure will lead to other pleasures
Intensity - how intense is pleasure or pain
Certainty- how sure are we that pleasure/ pain will occur
Extent- how many ppl
Duration - how long
Wanted theory to have rational evidential basis for moral, legal and political choices - more credible - wanted scientific basis
Can be applied to animals and infants - pain and pleasure = measurable
Arg some intellectual animals are smarter than least intelligent human
Looks to establish where an act has a balance of pleasure over pain - if it does then act is good
Evaluation
Too much emphasis on consequences of actions: req us to second guess the future and easy to get that wrong e.g. saving child - could grow up to be murderer, at time pleasurable but might regret later
Utilitarian response: not wholly true- reality of most sitauations = typical of ‘general classes of acts; know certain acts e.g. murder, rape etc lead to unhappiness - simple calc show we dont do them
Ignores motives, rules and duties: morality of act= why you do it. Ppl need to have stability of moral rules and it’s their duty to obey them
Utilitarian response:rules and duties are useful if follow principle of utility if not then immoral
Ignores rights of minorities: no guarantee majority is right - can be unjust to minorities e.g. gang rape is justified
Utilitarian response: if right of min considered over majority then unfair to majority - greater injustice
Accusation that hedonic calc allows gang rape = misunderstood, unhappiness of rape would apply to all women and husbands - would never justify this act
Stingle straightforward principle
How majority of Soc works in regards to democracy
Humans = naturally designed to weight rh cons of their actions as ability to reason so natural way of moral decisions
