Utilitarianism

Question 1

Who originally created Utilitarianism?

Answer 1

Jeremy Bentham

Question 2

What did Bentham believe was the ‘sovereign good’?

Answer 2

Happiness

Question 3

Hedonism

Answer 3

The idea that happiness is linked to pleasure and that pleasure is the only thing that’s right

Question 4

What are we motivated by?

Answer 4

Pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain

Question 5

Utilitarianism

Answer 5

Teleological

Comes from the word ‘utility’ and means ‘usefulness’

Question 6

What do Utilitarians argue?

Answer 6

That everyone should do the thing that produces the most useful end.

Question 7

What is the most useful end?

Answer 7

The one which brings maximum levels of ‘happiness’ or pleasure

Question 8

Greatest Happiness Principle

Answer 8

The way of assessing which course of action is the best one to take

Question 9

Why is the greatest happiness principle misleading?

Answer 9

The greatest happiness doesn’t necessarily involve the greatest number of people
The emphasis is more on the action that produces the greatest amount of happiness overall

Question 10

Principle of Utility

Answer 10

People should act to bring a balance of good over evil
Bentham saw this as measuring whether or not an act would promote pleasure or pain
Every action can be measured by this principle

Question 11

The Hedonic Calculus

Answer 11

Bentham believed there were several different elements that should be taken into account when calculating the amount of happiness

Question 12

The Hedonic Calculus (elements)

Answer 12

Intensity - strength
Duration - length
Certainty - how likely?
Extent - how many will it affect?
Propinquity - how close is it to you?
Richness - how likely is it to happen again?
Purity - how much pain does it involve?

Question 13

What did Bentham write in The Rationale of Reward?

Answer 13

‘Prejudice apart, the game of push-pin is of equal value with the arts and sciences of music and poetry’.

Question 14

Act Utilitarianism

Answer 14

Consequentialist
Relativistic
Ethical decisions and judgements should be based on the outcome or the consequences of an action
Bentham thought that previous experiences didn’t always help us make moral choices and that each situation was different so had to be calculated afresh

Question 15

Arguments against Bentham’s Utilitarianism

Answer 15

He tried to measure pleasure in quantitative terms

For instance, Bentham’s approach