Ethics 4 Flashcards
What are the two rival approaches to justice with respect to consequences?
- Morality of an actions depends solely on the consequences it brings about
- Consequences are not all we should care about, morally speaking; certain duties and rights should command our respect, for reasons independent of the social consequences
Who founded the concept of utilitarianism?
Jeremy Bentham
What is Utilitarianism?
The highest principle of morality is to maximise happiness, the overall balance of pleasure over pain.
What is according to Utilitarianism the best thing to do?
Whatever maximizes utility, where utility is whatever produces pleasure or happiness, and thus prevents pain and suffering.
Why has Bentham arrived at the principle that we are all governed by pain and pleasure?
It is governs us in everything we do, and we determine what to do by it. What is right and wrong is therefore connected to it.
What are the weaknesses of utilitarianism?
- It fails to respect individual rights
- It only uses one single currency of value to translate all moral goods (i.e. not enough weight to dignity, and inidvidual rights, and reduces everything to a single scale)
How does utilitarianism fail to respect individual rights?
Inidividuals matter, however only in their personal preferences. This means that by utilitairian logic, if consistently applied, things could be moral, while violating what we think of as fundemental norms of decency.
Why is the concept of utility controversial?
People believe that it is impossible to translate all moral goods into a single currency.
What is John Stuart Mill’s recast of utilitarianism?
He believed that utilitarism could be more humane and less calculating by maximizing utlity over the long run, and by respecting inidividual liberties over time it could lead to the greatest human happiness.
Why does Mill believe in individual liberties?
He believes that forcing a person to live according to a custom of convention is wrong, since it prevents him from achieving the highest end of human life, the full and free development of his human faculties.
What are the human faculties?
Perception, judgement discirimitative feeling, mental activity and even moral preference, are exercised only in making a choice. Doing anything because it is the custom makes no choice, and you don’t get practice either in discerning of desiring what is best.
What is a weakness of utilitarianism according to Mill?
It is possible to distinguish between higher and lower pleasures, to assess the quality and not just quantity of our desires. He thinks this distinction can be made without relying on any moral ideas other than utility itself. If there are two pleasures, and there are people who have experienced both, if all or almost all give a decided preference, than one is better than the other.
What is libertairian theory?
Libertairings favour unfettered markets and oppose government regulation, not because economic efficientcy, but in the name of human freedom. Sine their central claim is that each of us has a fundamental right to liberty, provided that we respect other peoples rights to do the same.
Why do libertairians want a minimal state?
Since that is the only type of government that is compatible with the libertairing theory of rights. Any state that does more is morally unjustified.
What three types of policy do libertairians reject?
- No paternalism, i.e. no law that prevent people from harming themselves
- No moral legislation, i.e. no law to promote notions of virtue or moral convictions of the majority
- No redistribution of income or wealth, since any law that requires to help people is bad, thus taxes are bad too
