Morality - Utilitarianism Analysis

Question 1

Utilitarianism Strengths

Answer 1

• Hedonistic Qualty
• Human Nature - Consequences
• Equality
• Secular

Question 2

Utiliarianism Weaknesses

Answer 2

• Pleasure is not all humans care about
• Unpredictability of consequences
• Which consequences?
• Impossibility of objectivity

Question 3

Act Strengths

Question 4

Act Weaknesses

Question 5

Rule Strengths

Question 6

Rule Weaknesses

Question 7

Mill Discussion Points

Question 8

Utilitarianism Strengths:

Hedonistic Quality

2

Answer 8

• Corresponds with common sene - everyone wants to be happy and not suffer, so a theory that works towards this is ideal
• Truly focuses on human’s wellbeing rather than only considering what is ‘moral’

Question 9

Utilitarianism Strengths:

Human Nature - Consequences

Answer 9

• Humans naturally look to the expected consequences of an action to make decisions, so we don’t have to adjust our thinking too much to apply utilitarianism
• Sensible as we act in ways to gain particular outcomes in life - I go to school to get into uni, I go to uni to get a job etc

Question 10

Utilitarianism Strengths:

Equality

Answer 10

• Fits in with modern views about the equality of race, gender, sexuality etc
• Allows for non-biased decision making, and has evolved with our current society

Question 11

Utilitarianism Strengths:

Secular

Answer 11

• No need for an understanding of religious theories - fits with the idea that morality is separate from religion
• Links to equality as you don’t have to be religious or practice a certain religion to be a utilitarian

Question 12

Utiliarianism Weaknesses:

Pleasure is not all humans care about

Question 13

Utiliarianism Weaknesses:

Unpredictability of consequences

4

Answer 13

• Consequences are unpredictable, and using these as a basis of moral decision making can prove to be problematic:
• Actual vs Intended: We may carry out an action with an intended consequence in mind, but the only thing we can control is our own action which can ultimately lead to unexpected and perhaps worse consequences than anticipated
• Long vs Short Term: Most actions, if not all, will have a short term and a long term consequence. The short term consequence may be good, but the long term consequence could be worse or vise versa. It is hard to predict how things will pan out in the long term and short term consequences may be unappealing that we don’t properly consider long term ones, making it hard to factor this into our decision making
• Local vs Global: An action could have a good consequence locally, but a bad consequence globally. (e.g. if I were to buy an apple from the supermarket it would save me money which is a good local consequence, but globally this produces a bad consequence as the emissions from transporting these goods harms our environment)

Question 14

Utiliarianism Weaknesses:

Which consequences?

3

Answer 14

• If we consider that we potentially have six different consequence types to consider when making a moral decision, it is hard to do this as utilitarianism doesn’t explicitly say which we should look to
• One kind of consequence may produce the greatest happiness, but it’s parallel consequence may have the opposite effect - which is more important?
• Makes utilitarianism much more complex

Question 15

Utiliarianism Weaknesses:

Impossibility of objectivity

2

Answer 15

• Humans can’t be objective, almost everyone will favour family over strangers
• May not always be the case, but everyone will have some sort of bias based on preference