Moral Philosophy Flashcards
Hedonistic Act Utilitarianism
A theory claiming actions are right or wrong based on their consequences alone and that an act is right if it maximises what is good. Happiness is defined as pleasure and the absence of pain, and everyone’s happiness is equally important.
Hedonism
The claim that pleasure is happiness and the only good thing
Utility
The property of an action or object in virtue of which it tends to produce happiness.
Consequentialism
The theory that an action is good or bad solely based on its outcomes.
Principle of Utility
The principle that approves or disapproves of an action on whether it does or does not provide the greatest amount of total possible happiness
Hedonic Calculus
The means of calculating pleasures and pains caused by action and adding them up on a single scale. The total amount of happiness produced is the sum of everyone’s total pleasures minus the sum of everyone’s total pains
How did Bentham define happpiness
Pleasure and the absence of pain
Psychological hedonism
The view that all we desire is happiness/pleasure
Ethical hedonism
The view that all we ought to desire is happiness/ pleaure
What does Hedonistic Act Utilitarianism presuppose, and to argue what
Presupposes psychological hedonism to argue ethical hedonism
Preference Utilitarianism
The theory that we should maximise happiness which is understood not in terms of pleasure or pain but in terms of the satisfaction of individuals preferences
Preference
What is in an individuals best interests
External means
something that is instrumental to happiness
Constitutive means
something that is part of happiness
Stages of Mills proof
- Happiness is good
- Happiness is the only good
Objection to rule utilitarianism
Too many excpetions, not a separat theory
Objections to act utilitarianism
Intentions
Moral Integrity
Complexity
Partiality
Morality
Objections to rule utilitarianism
Exceptions to rules
Partiality
Other values (eg not happiness)
Rules are too complex (objection one rule of maximising happiness to objection theory too similar to act)
partiality
favouring some people eg family and friends over others
integrity
acting on and living by values, beliefs, and commitments that you desire
Intentions
A mental state that expresses a persons choice. It specifies the action they choose and their reason for acting it.
Hypothetical imperative
A command that presupposes some further goal or desire
Maxim
A personal principle regarding our own actions
The good will
The will that is motivated by acts out of duty and which choose rationally. It is the only thing that is morally good without qualification
