UTILITARIANISM

Question 1

Who created act utilitarianism?

Answer 1

Bentham

Question 2

What did Bentham believe about democracy?

Answer 2

That everyone within society counts equally and that all people have an equal right to happiness.

Question 3

According to Bentham, how do we know if an action is right?

Answer 3

If it produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number.

Question 4

What is the Principle of Utility?

Answer 4

The rightness or wrongness of a situation is determined by its usefulness or ‘utility’.

Question 5

Is Bentham’s act utilitarianism qualitative or quantitative?

Answer 5

Quantitative.

Question 6

What is the hedonic calculus? Why did Bentham create it?

Answer 6

Calculating the benefit or harm of an act through its consequences.
Bentham wanted to use reason to help determine right and wrong.

Question 7

What are the 7 things does the hedonic calculus measures happiness by?

Answer 7

• Intensity
• Duration
• Certainty
• Remoteness
• To be followed
• Purity
• Extent
  PREDICT

Question 8

How can happiness be measured quantitatively?

Answer 8

If more people gain pleasure then pain through a certain act, then the act is permissible and ought to be pursued according to Bentham.

Question 9

Who created rule utilitarianism?

Answer 9

John Stuart Mill.

Question 10

What did Mill strongly advocate for?

Answer 10

Freedom/liberty. He strongly opposed legislation that restricted what an individual could or could not.

Question 11

How did Mill measure pleasure?

Answer 11

Qualitatively.

Question 12

What are higher and lower pleasures?

Answer 12

Higher = pleasures of the mind.
Lower = pleasures of the body.

Question 13

What did Mill believe we need rules for?

Answer 13

We need rules/principles that serve to maximise happiness and minimise unhappiness.

Question 14

What is Mill’s principle of universalisability?

Answer 14

What is right or wrong for one person in a situation is right or wrong for all.

Question 15

What is Mill’s harm principle?

Answer 15

When referring to the pressure which a majority can impose on a minority, he argued that this ought to be limited to prevent the harm of others.

Question 16

Give a strength of utilitarianism generally.

Answer 16

It is straightforward and based on the single principle of maximising pleasure, goodness and happiness.

Question 17

Give a strength of Bentham’s act utilitarianism.

Answer 17

Has the benefit of flexibility, being able to take into account individual situations.

Question 18

Give a strength of Mill’s rule utilitarianism.

Answer 18

Being qualitative means it is not merely about the amount of pleasure and pain.

Question 19

Give a weakness of utilitarianism generally.

Answer 19

It is impossible to seek your own happiness and do what you ought to do.

Question 20

Give a weakness of Bentham’s act utilitarianism.

Answer 20

Bentham’s act Utilitarianism has the potential to virtually justify any act, if in that particular case, the result generates the most happiness.

Question 21

Give a weakness of Mill’s rule utilitarianism.

Answer 21

What about when some of these rules need to be broken?

Question 22

Strengths of using utility principle as a measure of good, bad, right or wrong… (give two)

Answer 22

• A practical approach with observable/measurable outcomes.

- It allows rules to be set aside so that you can carry out correct action.

Question 23

Problems with using utility principle as a measure of good, bad, right or wrong… (give two)

Answer 23

• Minority may be treated unjustly - they have rights.

- Impersonal - goes against personal integrity and our moral sense. Too subjective.

Question 24

What did Bentham write about the principle of utility?

Answer 24

“Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.”

Question 25

How does Bentham come to his conclusion for the utility principle?

Answer 25

Through observations of human life. We respond to our basic needs, this is the essence of hedonism.

Question 26

What does Bentham state about the principle of utility?

Answer 26

“The business of government is to promote the happiness of society.”

Question 27

How can utilitarianism be seen as democratic?

Answer 27

It is a democratic kind of relativism because it wants to maximise the balance of good over evil.

Question 28

What does Mill state about what the utility principle is needed to do?

Answer 28

To distinguish between quantities of sensual goods and happiness.

Question 29

What does Mill state about people of higher principles?

Answer 29

“A being of higher faculties requires more to make him happy.”

Question 30

What does Mill state about utilitarian morality?

Answer 30

Does recognise in human beings the possibility that we can act for the good of others.

Question 31

What are act utilitarians driven by? What are rule utilitarians driven by?

Answer 31

ACT: driven by the utility in each individual.
RULE: establish rules for what to do based on the ‘calculation’ of utility.

Question 32

How can act utilitarians appear hedonistic?

Answer 32

An act utilitarian might find it better to lie in some situations.

Question 33

What is the power of act utilitarianism?

Answer 33

It always seeks to maximise the greatest utility in ever situation. The greatest utility will be created over all.

Question 34

What are rule utilitarians more focused on establishing?

Answer 34

The common good.

Question 35

What is the general end of an action for rule utilitarians?

Answer 35

It is repeated in different circumstances.

Question 36

What do rule utilitarians provide?

Answer 36

A guide for people to know what to do. They do not need to calculate every individual situation.