CH2.4 Utilitarianism

Question 1

What is meant by the principle of utility/greatest happiness?

Answer 1

the idea that the choice that brings about the greatest good for the greatest number is the right choice

Question 2

What is the hedonic calculus?`

Answer 2

the system for calculating the amount of pain or pleasure generated

Question 3

What is meant by consequentialism?

Answer 3

ethical theories that see morality as driven by the consequences, rather than actions or character of those concerned

Question 4

What is meant by hedonistic?

Answer 4

pleasure driven

Question 5

What is utilitarianism?

Answer 5

it is an ethical theory that looks to create the greatest good for the greatest number.

Question 6

What does utilitarianism apply to moral problems? and what does this ‘utility’ refer to?

Answer 6

it applies the principle of utility to moral problems. This ‘utility’ refers to the extent to which good and evil is done by a choice.

Question 7

Rather than deontological ethics, what is utilitarianism?

Answer 7

rather than focusing on rules that should not be broken (deontological ethics), it is teleological, focused on the results

Question 8

Who proposed utilitarianism?

Answer 8

it was proposed by Jeremy Bentham first and then John Stuart Mill. It is also the adopted theory of the Australian ethicist Peter Singer

Question 9

For utilitarians, what is ethics not about?

Answer 9

it is not about religion

Question 10

Who was it that argued that just because god approves an action, it does not make that action right?

Answer 10

Plato

Question 11

For utilitarians, what is goodness and badness about?

Answer 11

they are about the ends, the things sought, rather than how you seek them, the actions. Utilitarians set aside religious authority and established rules

Question 12

What is central to utilitarianism?

Answer 12

it is the hedonic calculus, the calculation of the balance between pleasure and pain, and the evil and good that results from any action.
-when looking at a problem, all of the possible alternative courses of action should be considered and each measured in terms of the hedonic calculus.

Question 13

What do different utilitarian theories emphasise differently? so what is classical utilitarianism?

Answer 13

different utilitarian theories emphasis different sorts of ends.
-classical utilitarianism, the theories of Bentham and Mill, are common examples of consequentialism. This sees goodness as being about happiness, well-being or pleasure, and badness is about the opposite - unhappiness, distress or pain.
-classical utilitarianism is hedonistic

Question 14

What do classical utilitarians do about happiness? and what are the 2 different ways Bentham and Mill do this?

Answer 14

they measure happiness.
-Bentham measures this is quantitative terms only
-Mill applies qualitative pains and pleasures. Mill thinks that some kinds of pain and pleasure are worth more than other kinds.

Question 15

Utilitarianism is challenged by those who what?

Answer 15

who argue that is permits us to break rules and does not provide a basis for fairness and justice.
-It relies heavily on being able to know the future consequences of actions, and that it assumes shared or common interests or pleasures, when people might be more diverse in their preferences/interests and pleasures

Question 16

What was Jeremy Bentham concerned about? and how did his ethical theory start?

Answer 16

-He was concerned about social reform and the situation of the masses.
-His ethical theory started with an observation of what really mattered to people, and this meant confronting the good and evil in life, the happiness and the trails of living.

Question 17

What does Bentham describe pain and pleasure as?

Answer 17

as our masters, instead of some divine authority. Wherever possible we instinctively try to avoid pain and seek out pleasure.
-Bentham comes to his conclusion through the observation of human life. We respond to our basic needs; the new born seeks to fill its empty stomach, the toddler recoils from the hot radiator. We pursue hobbies that interest us and we avoid unpleasant people and, if possible, jobs we hate.

Question 18

What does Bentham mean in the quote: “In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire’?

Answer 18

-Bentham is sceptical of the claims people make about their holy lives.
-they claim that they act according to some divine rule but in truth they don’t. This is what Bentham means by this quote.

Question 19

Given human motivations, what is needed?

Answer 19

a system of law is needed

Question 20

What did Bentham develop? and what is the utility?

Answer 20

a principle of utility, or greatest happiness theory, to approve or reject every private action and every action of government.
- the utility is the extent to which an act produces ‘benefit, advantage, pleasure, good or happiness’ or prevents ‘the happening of mischief, pain, evil or unhappiness. Utility is what moral behaviour should be looking to maximise

Question 21

What should moral behaviour be looking to maximise and what should affect our decisions?

Answer 21

-utility is what moral behaviour should ne looking to maximise and the balance between happiness and and sadness caused is what should affect our decisions, not idealised views of moral commandments or rules. This is all according to utilitarianism

Question 22

What does the principle of utility use and apply?

Answer 22

it uses the human instinct to seek pleasure but applies a democratic principle (hence greatest good for the greatest number)

Question 23

In the book A Fragment on Government, what does Bentham say about right and wrong?

Answer 23

he says that ‘it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong’

Question 24

What does Bentham think is the business of government?

Answer 24

he thinks that ‘the business of government is to promote the happiness of the society.’

Question 25

Is Utilitarianism a relativist theory and why?

Answer 25

yes it is, because decisions are made relative to the ends. It does not promote a fixed or absolute set of particular rules.

Question 26

What does the hedonic calculus calculate?

Answer 26

it calculates the balance of pleasure, well-being or goodness, as apposed to pain or evil.
- in other words it measures the quantity of pain and pleasure in any suggested individual act or law

Question 27

What are the seven different elements that should be taken into account when calculating the amount of happiness.

Answer 27

1) its intensity
2) its duration
3) its certainty or uncertainty
4) its propinquity or remoteness
5) its fecundity
6) its purity
7) its extent

Question 28

in an attempt to quantify pleasure or pain, what are some of the difficulties with Bentham?

Answer 28

-is pleasure, goodness or well-being the right gauge for morality?
-are all pleasures measurable using the same ‘toolkit’
-does everyone, or do most people, gain pleasure from similar things?
-we might question whether the happiness of all or the many is simply a matter of the aggregation of individual wants
-does anything else change when we combine the different individual wants of different people together?
-is there anything about the relationship between those different individuals which affects how individual wants transform into communal wants?

Question 29

Who was someone close to Bentham that criticised his theory?

Answer 29

John Stuart Mill

Question 30

What was Mills main criticism about Bentham’s approach?

Answer 30

the main issue Mill had with Bentham’s approach was the assumption that morality was about base pleasures: ‘the accusation supposes human beings to be capable of no pleasures except those of which swine (pigs) are capable

Question 31

What does Mill think about humans?

Answer 31

he thinks humans are better than what Bentham portrays them to be in his theory.
- ‘human beings have faculties more elevated than the animal appetites, and when once made conscious of them, do not regard anything as happiness which does not include their gratification’
-the higher pleasures are always better than the base pleasures

Question 32

What distinction does Mill make about pleasure?

Answer 32

He distinguished:
-the lower pleasures (sex, eating, rest) from the higher pleasures (intellectual, aesthetic, social enjoyment)

Question 33

What do the lower pleasures provide and what can happen if we overindulge?

Answer 33

the lower pleasures can provide powerful gratification but if we overindulge, they bring pain