CHAPTER 5 - Utilitarianism Flashcards
Utilitarianism belongs to a theory in morality that can be labeled as
Consequentialist
An ethical theory is ____________ when it puts primary consideration and emphasis on the effects or results that an act or conduct brings rather than on the motive or intention that the agent may have.
consequentialist
unlike in natural law ethics,_______ plainly disregards the act itself the basis of morality.
utilitarianism
In assessing whether an act is good or bad, a________ looks into the outcome of the act or conduct.
What solely matters is the result of the deed, not the deed itself.
consequentialist
essentially asks questions such as: “What good will come from doing this?”“What benefit can one get in performing such an act?» “What ham would come if a particular action is done?” “Who will stand to gain if this action is performed?”
consequentialist ethical theory
The primary concern with the
consequences of actions has distinguished_______ from other ethical theories such as Natural Law and Deontological ethics.
utilitarianism
In________ ethical theory, no_____ in itself can be considered or called as good or bad, right or wrong, apart from its outcome or end.
utilitarian
action
for them, do not have intrinsic moral value.
Actions
as a _________ ethical theory, utilitarianism believes that actions are morally significant and valuable only inasmuch as they produce what is desired or expected from them
Here, an act is always viewed as a mere_______ to achieve something
consequentialist
instrument
______has only an instrumental value.
It is merely a means to an end.
It is not an end in itself, as contrasted to nonconsequentialist (deontologist) theories, which believe that morality is good for its own sake.
morality
Another significant characteristic of utilitarianism as an ethical theory is its emphasis on the pleasure and happiness/contentment that one can get from doing an act or from a particular course of action.
Ethical Hedonism
Another significant characteristic of utilitarianism as an ethical theory is its emphasis on the _________ and _________that one can get from doing an act or from a particular course of action.
pleasure and happiness/contentment
This element in utilitarianism would also show that it abhors pain or unhappiness as possible effects in the performance of certain actions.
For the utilitarians in general, pain and suffering should be avoided when one is thinking about doing something.
Ethical Hedonism
If an act results to unhappiness than happiness, pain than pleasure, harm than good, then it has to be
rejected or avoided.
In the An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (Chapter. 1, Section 1); (1748-1832), one of the most prominent advocates and founders of utilitarianism
Jeremy Bentham
According to ______ Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, what are those 2?
Jeremy Bentham
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.
Pain and pleasure
for utilitarianism, right and wrong, are dependent on the______ that an act will bring or result to.
pleasure or pain
If an act produces____, it is considered right or good;
pleasure
if it results to____; it is considered wrong or bad.
pain
The emphasis on pleasure as the primary, if not the sole criterion whether an act is good or bad, though sounds too_____ (pleasure-oriented), has a great and enormous appeal to common sense.
hedonistic
Anyone who decides to do something, more often than not, and whether one acknowledges it or not, is motivated by the
pleasure principle
Nobody in his right mind (a masochist excluded) will do something to inflict ____ and ____ upon himself.
pain and suffering
is something that we all avoid, in one way or the other. We simply do not want it.
is something that is simply repugnant to human nature.
Pain or unhappiness
Pain and suffering
This theory advocates a philosophy that holds that the primary reason for living is to seck for pleasure or happiness and to avoid pain and suffering as much as possible.
theory of Ethical Hedonism
More specifically, it claims that the good life is one that is spent for the pursuit of bodily pleasures. In fact, goodness is equated with pleasure of sensual nature.
theory of Ethical Hedonism
Although the central features of utilitarianism as a philosophical movement were already systematically expounded and articulated in the 18th century by a number of leading European philosophers (most notably David Hume), those who are highly recognized to be its true founders or originators are:
Jeremy Bentham and his brilliant and remarkable pupil and disciple (and a much greater thinker) John Stuart Mill (1806-1873).
It was _______ who specifically coined the now famous phrase principle of utility (thus, the term Utilitarianism) to denote that the essentially determining element whether an act can be good or right is its utility or usefulness (value) - to bring about desirable results or consequences (understood as pleasure or happiness).
Bentham
According to Bentham,, ____is meant that property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good or on happiness…or..to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness to the party, whose interest is considered.
utility
the term is usually equated with pleasure or happiness, which the utilitarians consider as the only objective moral standard.
utility
The claim that there is one and only one moral principle - that of____, makes utilitarianism an ethical theory that can be considered, in a way, absolutist and a believer in objective morality.
utility
when we speak of something having ______ we usually mean that it serves some purpose or function. Thus, for instance, a ball pen is useful because it serves a particular purpose or function, that of writing. In the same respect, actions are useful because they can be utilized to attain certain goals or purposes, here understood to mean good and beneficial purposes or consequences.
utility
Utilitarianism, as expounded by Mill and Bentham, aims at consequences, which are good, that everybody (or the general public) wants, and this is happiness or pleasure.
As such, utilitarianism has also come to be known as a
happiness theory
Utilitarianism then, particularly the one that is developed by______, becomes An ethical principle that measures the amount of happiness over unhappiness of a certain act.
Bentham
In fact, a table of measurement was invented by Bentham himself to arrive at an rexact calculation of the amount of pleasure that an act may bring.
This particular moral mechanism or ethical method has come to be known as the
‘Hedonic Calculus
But it was not in Mill or in Bentham that this emphasis on the social dimension of happiness, where morality has its meaning, had originated but the honor belongs to the Scottish philosopher (1694-1746).
Francis Hutcheson
It was he who first formulated the now famous, though controversial utilitarian phrase The greatest good for the greatest number.
Francis Hutcheson
Utilitarianism in one sense goes back to the earliest beginning of the history of ethical thought. In fact, Mill insists that it has been presupposed by practically all ethical philosophers starting from the ancient Greeks, particularly_____ (341-270 B.C.E.) and_____ (430-350 B.C.E.) whose ethical schools were popular for their supreme emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure or happiness as the central meaning and reason of human existence (Ethical Hedonism).
Epicurus
Aristippus
Bentham’s Hedonic Calculus also known as
Cost-Benefit Analysis
________ cleverly devised a specific tool or method for ethical analysis. He considered this method as scientific, as it employs the exact science of mathematical calculation. Its aim is to arrive at a definite basis of when to say that an act or conduct is right or wrong, good and bad.
Bentham
Hedonic Calculus
is to “help individuals as well as lawmakers and legislators decide what ought to be done in any given set of circumstances”
hedonic calculus
In ethical or moral decision-making, Bentham claims that what truly matters in the end is the ______ of pleasure or happiness and the_____ if not the total eradication of pair or suffering.
maximization
minimization
This particular scheme which Bentham called the “_____” is used for determining morality by measuring the exact amount of pleasure and pain, happiness and unhappiness.
Hedonic Calculus
is a Greek term means pleasure,
hedons
is a science of calculation
calculus
