UTILITARIANISM Flashcards
what is meant by maximising utility
action or policy that produces the largest amount of good. Utilitarianism appears to be a simple theory because it consists of only one evaluative principle: Do what produces the best consequences.
what is Psychological hedonism
A descriptive theory of human motivation.
Individuals potential pleasure and avoidance of pain are the sole aims of the individual actions.
what is jeremy bentham’s hedonistic utilitarianism
A psychological hedonistic and consequentialist approach to ethics.
Every action we do should maximise utility.
In order to calculate utility, we take away the pain brought about by the action from the happiness.
the moral worth of an action is dependent on the consequences.
what is rule utilitarianism
avoids criticism of classical utilitarianism.
such as the theory leads to counter intuitive results, such as murder and harvesting organs.
one must follow a general set of rules.
An act is good if it follows a suitable rule and a rule is good if it is one that will increase happiness. consequences of general rather than specific actions.
john stuart mill’s qualitative hedonistic utilitarianism
-defends theory by making a distinction between higher and lower pleasures.
-Mill believed pleasures of the mind were superior to physical pleasures, as they were likely to last longer as so give more pleasure.
-rejected the ‘quantity only’ theory.
-some pleasures are inherently better than others, even if they are less pleasant
“its is better to be a human _ than a pig _”
satisfied, dissatisfied
criticism of mill’s qualitative hedonistic utilitarianism
it seems incoherent for a hedonistic theory to value pleasures which are lesser than ones which are higher.
what is non-hedonistic utilitarianism
we should maximise something else other than pleasure.
what is preference utilitarianism
an action should be judged by how it conforms to the preferences of all those affected by the action. A good is one which maximises the satisfaction of those involved.
The focus of classical utilitarianism can be counter intuitive.
criticism of preference utilitarians
we surely shouldn’t maximise bad/cray preferences
Nozick’s experience machine
Issue with utilitarianism.
plugged into a machine which simulates a perfect life which maximises happiness and minimises your pain. You believe your life in the machine is real.
Many people would prefer to not enter the machine, meaning they can life a real life. However according to act utilitarianism everyone should enter the experience machine because it maximises, however it seem morally wrong to ignore preferences.
poses a problem with Bentham and Mills hedonism. We realise there are more important things than pleasure. such as being in contact with reality and experiences.
fairness and individual liberty/rights
-act utilitarianism can lead to counter intuitive moral judgements. such as sacrificing an innocent scapegoat to placate the masses.
-rule utilitarianism can avoid these odd conclusions by arguing that following rules, which give us a right to life liberty and freedom is the best way to maximise utility. these rights are merely devices in order to achieve happiness
mill on liberty-risk of the “tyranny of the majority”
democracy is only the will of the majority.
tyranny thought of as direct legislation through the sheer weight of the majority’s opinion making it difficult for the minority to exercise rights and freedoms.
Problems with calculating utility
average or total?
average or total happiness. Poses an issue between maximizing the average or total happiness. is it better to have everyone slightly happy, with less suffering, or to make more people very happy, and the minority unhappy.
Problems with calculating utility
Distribution of happiness
most actions only affect some people, is it better to make 10 ppl very happy or 50 people happy.
