peter singer & preference utilitarianism

Question 1

peter singer:

Answer 1

the most famous modern representative of utilitarianism

Question 2

a strictly ________ utilitarianism, claiming to think through the issues in a rational way with no appeal to _______ or _________
[quote]

Answer 2

• rational
• emotion or sentiment
  “𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐢𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 “

Question 3

it is important to recognise that utilitarianism must have a universal quality, weighing the needs and preferences of others as much as [my] own.
[quote]

Answer 3

“𝐈𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰… [𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭] 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬, 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 ….,𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞.”

Question 4

Singer rejects classic hedonistic accounts, arguing that we should opt for pref. util.

Answer 4

we may prefer outcomes in a rational way even though those outcomes do not directly lead to our own satisfaction

Question 5

example of altruism and significance of it:

Answer 5

for example I may prefer the outcomes of altruism in terms of a better world even though I am not personally more satisfied as a result of my giving to others. He argues that we shld do what on balance, furthers the preferences of those affected

Question 6

pleasure and pain?

Answer 6

interprets pleasure and pain in a broad sense - connected with the pleasures and pain of achieving or not achieving what is preferred

Question 7

minimising suffering - Singer’s ‘speciesism’
‘animal liberation’ vs ‘animal rights’
he argues… [quote]
“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧?, 𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤?, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓?”

Answer 7

animals have no less capacity of suffering so there’s no reason for humans to have privilege over them - but rather equality of consideration - However he makes no claim for animal rights anymore than he accepts human natural rights - the justification for not maltreating animals is the capacity for suffering.
“…𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐠 𝐢𝐬 [… ] 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 [𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞] 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 [𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡] 𝐨𝐥𝐝”

Question 8

Singer’s controversial ideas (haemophilla)
- he considers the issue of ‘replaceability’

This is seen as controversial by many as it contradicts the belief of the sacredness in human life - believers in natural human rights wld reject the entire approach.

Answer 8

• if a mother loses a child, in principle it can be ‘replaced’ - aborting a fetus of a 50% chance of hae. seems uneccesary; it wld be wiser to kill a haemophiliac child after birth, as its be only ‘half’ the destruction
  “𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬… 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 [𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭]. 𝐍𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫… 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝…”