Bentham’s Ut Flashcards
Compared to other moral theories, what did Utilitarianism have a significant impact on?
Government & policy makers.
What does Bentham insist motivates people?
- To seek pleasure.
- To avoid pain.
J. Bentham
“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.”
What does Ut state we should seek in order to act morally?
Seek maximum happiness for the maximum number of people involved.
“Create all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the misery you are able to remove”
J. Bentham
The Utility Principle
Name the 7 elements of the Hedonic Calculus?
- Intensity
- Duration
- Certainty
- Propinquity
- Fecundity
- Purity
- Extent
It can be argued an act can be morally right, or wrong, regardless of the pleasure or pain, or the good or evil it produces.
What else can it be judged on?
Facts.
What two key novelists of the 17th century criticised utilitarianism and its disregard for other factors that drive how humans act?
Dickens, in his book, Hard Times
Dostoevsky, in his book, Crime and Punishment
“What does honourable mean? Everything that is useful to humanity is honourable. I understand one word, useful!”
Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
He, and Dickens believed there is more to human behaviour than a desire to maximise pleasure and minimise pain - there are factors that go beyond an individualistic view such as social concerns and bonds,
What did J.S. Mill, and many other thinkers, agree about Bentham’s utilitarianism?
Its insistence on utility as the sole value is too simplistic, we need some kind of general rules.
What is Mill’s Ut called? What does he reject about Bentham’s?
Rule Utilitarianism.
He rejects Bentham’s Act Ut, rejecting the Hedonic Calculus, and his individualistic view on behaviour.
