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Paper 3 > Mill and Bentham > Flashcards

Mill and Bentham Flashcards

1
Q

Schneewind

A

B shifts focus from character evaluation to act evaluation

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2
Q

Hedonic calculus

A 
Purity
Richness
Remoteness
Intensity
Certainty
Extent
Duration
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3
Q

what defines utility

A

principles of sympathy and antipathy - all existing systems of morality can be reduced to this

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4
Q

Mill on B being a great philsopher

A

‘he was not a great philosopher but he was a great reformer in philosophy’

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5
Q

what did B speak against and why

A

‘excellence of institutions’ - saw them as the product of modern corruption

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6
Q

Mill on B’s empathy (3)

A

‘deficiency of empathy’
‘he never knew prosperity and adversity, passion nor safety’
‘man, the most complex being, is very simple in his eyes’

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7
Q

Mill thought B was equipped not for ethical enquiry but for

A

‘the direction of jurisprudence’

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8
Q

Mill on B and philosophy of law

A

‘B found philosophy of law a chaos and left it a science’

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9
Q

what interests can B protect

A

material but not spiritual

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10
Q

What mistake did B commit about human affairs

A

‘he committed the mistake of supposing the business part of human affairs was the whole of them’

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11
Q

who criticises Mill’s utilitarianism?

A

Sidgwick, WD Ross, RM Hare

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12
Q

What does Sidgwick say?

A

“In practice it is hard to distinguish between higher and lower pleasures” bc of subjectivity of pleasure

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13
Q

What does WD Ross say?

A

“Single-factor” moral theories don’t work because life is too complex and we have ‘prima facie’ duties

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14
Q

What does Mill do in Chapter 2?

A

clarifies what util. is by replying to eleven objections that arise form misunderstanding the theory.

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15
Q

How does Mill reply to the objection that ‘Utility’ means what is useful, not what is pleasurable?

A

‘pleasure and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends’

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16
Q

How does Mill reply to the objection that ‘we don’t need happiness as many wise and noble people have lived without it’?

A

noble people sacrifice their happiness for the happiness of others, e.g. soldiers; and util. recognises the virtue of sacrificing your happiness for others.

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17
Q

How does Mill reply to the objection that Utilitarianism is a godless theory?

A

‘If it be a true belief that God desires, above all things, the happiness of his creatures, and that this was his purpose in their creation, utility is not only not a godless doctrine, but more profoundly religious than any other’.

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18
Q

Good quote by Mill about why utilitarianism succeeds (where Kantian doesn’t?)

A

‘if the principle of utility is good for anything, it must be good for weighing these conflicting utilities against one another’

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19
Q

How does he reply to objection that Utilitarianism will lead to peoples sacrificing moral principles for ‘expedient’ immoral actions?

A

actions which sacrifice the greater happiness of people should be condemned

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20
Q

What are expedient moral actions?

A

actions which are in a person’s own interest or in the short-term interest like lying to get out of a tricky situation

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21
Q

How does Mill define happiness?

A

not a continuous flow of pleasure, but ‘…Moments of such in an existence made up of few and transitory pains, many and various pleasures’

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22
Q

What else other than pleasure are key constituents of our happiness according to Mill?

A

variety, activity and realistic expectations

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23
Q

What does Mill think the main obstacles that prevent us from attaining happiness are?

A

Poor Education and Poor Social Arrangements as they lead to lack of opportunity and inequality

24
Q

Mill quote to show how Bentham didn’t understand higher pleasures and human nature

A

‘if he thought at all of any of the deeper feelings of human nature, it was but as idiosyncrasies of taste’

25
Q

according to Bentham… ‘Quantity of

A

pleasure being equal, push-pin is as good as poetry’

26
Q

what are the Higher / Lower pleasures

A

Pleasures of the Mind > Pleasures of the Body

27
Q

KEYEST QUOTE EVA MAN

A

‘It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question’

28
Q

Where do we derive this preference for higher pleasures from?

A

our ‘sense of dignity, which all human beings possess in one form or other’

29
Q

What does Mill reply to the objection that people don’t pursue ‘higher’ pleasures and choose the ‘lower’ pleasures?

A

just because people do things badly, doesn’t mean that what we did not choose is more valuable (fact-value gap)

30
Q

In what way is Mill foul of the fallacy of Equivocation?

A

He uses the word ‘desirable’ equivocally; it could mean worthy of being desired (good objectively) OR capable of being desired (subjectively good). Just because one is desired doesn’t mean one is desirable!

31
Q

What does Mill reply to the charge he’s guilty of the fallacy of Equivocation?

A

What people desire IS evidence for what is desirable, ‘good’ is what people desire and is hence desirable so the two can be interchanged

32
Q

How is Mill foul of the Fallacy of Composition?

A

attributes a feature of the particulars to the whole; just because each person desires their own happiness, doesn’t necessarily means everybody desires everybody’s else’s happiness too.

33
Q

How does Mill reply to the charge he’s guilty of the fallacy of Composition?

A

He assumes impartiality, saying that if happiness is good, then morality concerns general happiness and individual happiness is just a by-product.

34
Q

In what way is Mill’s theory narrow-minded?

A

Happiness is not the only desirable good, many don’t desire happiness e.g. masochists desire pain, and some people have ‘higher’ desires e.g. an afterlife (P.U IS THE SOLUTION!)

35
Q

Who advocates Preference Utilitarianism?

A

Singer, Hare

36
Q

What does Preference Utilitarianism begin with?

A

understanding that sometimes we act in ways that don’t make us happy because there are more important things than happiness e.g. peoples’ preferences

37
Q

What does Singer argue about our telos?

A

our ‘telos’ is not happiness, but the satisfaction of one’s and other’s preferences

38
Q

What’s Nozick’s objection to Mill’s Utilitarianism?

A

Robert Nozick asked: ‘Would you plug into a virtual reality, in which you experienced a very happy life with many pleasures and little pain, or live in the world as it is?’

39
Q

What does the fact that most of us wouldn’t want to plug into Nozick’s virtual reality mean?

A

we choose things that are most valuable rather than what will bring the most amount of happiness; Mill’s util fails as some people act outside of what makes them happy

40
Q

Pros of Preference Utilitarianism

A
  1. Practical i.e. shows value of reality
  2. Can account for illogical desires
  3. Can account for ‘Higher ‘ and ‘Lower’ pleasures as preferences
41
Q

how does PU account for illogical desires?

A

some desires don’t bring the individual any pleasure and their fulfilment won’t effect us, but it is still important to satisfy them. e.g. desires after death (writing a will/ arrangements)

42
Q

What does Rule Utilitarianism state? (Lacewing)

A

‘Rule utilitarianism claims that an action is right if, and only if, it complies with those rules which, if everybody followed them, would lead to the greatest happiness (compared to any other set of rules).’

43
Q

What does Mil call customary moral rules to be considered when making a decision?

A

‘secondary principles’

44
Q

Why should we have rules?

A

to prevent a slippery slope

45
Q

What are the pros of RU?

A
  1. we don’t need to calculate the consequences of every act
  2. some types of bad acts are categorically ruled out
  3. simple and easy structure
  4. improves stance on liberty and rights
  5. improves stance on moral status of relationships
46
Q

Mill quote to support RU simplicity

A

happiness is ‘much too complex and indefinite’ a standard to apply directly to actions in many cases

47
Q

What does Mill say we should do if two secondary principles conflict?

A

apply to the ‘greatest happiness principle’ and act upon the one that leads to the greatest amount of happiness

48
Q

Objections to Act Utilitarian

A

In principle no type of action is ruled out as immoral

49
Q

Objections to Rule Utilitarianism

A
  1. Position leads to ‘Rule-Fetishism’

2. can all of morality be summed up by rules?

50
Q

What does Mill say to do when we’re in a situation in which no moral rules apply?

A

‘when no other rules apply, do that action that maximises happiness’

51
Q

What’s Strong Rule Utilitarianism?

A

rules are established through the application of utilitarian principles that should never be broken

52
Q

What’s Weak Rule Utilitarianism?

A

some utilitarian principles take precedence over a general rule in some situations.

53
Q

another name for Bentham’s hedonic calculus?

A

Felicific Calculus

54
Q

Mill on impartiality

A

each agent should be as ‘strictly impartial as a disinterested and benevolent spectator’

55
Q

Mill on virtue

A

an ‘associationist’ - thinks virtue is associated with pleasurable feelings

56
Q

Crisp’s objection to Mill

A

Jim is asked to commit suicide to save the Indians –> Mill has to allow this bc of impartiality

Paper 3 (14 decks)

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