Utilitarianism Flashcards
utilitarianism is the philosophical theory that analyses…
whether or not an action gives the greatest happiness to the largest amount of people
teleological & consequentialist
Utilitarianism is a teleological theory, which means it is focused upon the end goal, the result, as opposed to the moral theory.
It is also a consequentialist theory and focuses on the outcomes of a moral judgement.
jeremy bentham - ‘pleasure’
Jeremy Bentham was the leading philosopher in Utilitarianism and he promoted the utility principle as the best way to make a decision for the majority.
Bentham focused on the idea of ‘pleasure’ as opposed to happiness.
So, his theory, when applied to decision-making, was not about considering how happy the greatest amount of people were; it was about how much pleasure they would receive from an action.
the utility principle
The utility principle argues that an action is correct if it promotes happiness and wrong if it creates pain.
The definition of utility is usefulness. So the utility principle analyses the usefulness of the actions.
The utility principle is applied to potential decisions and is used to decide whether this action will produce the largest amount of pleasure for the largest amount of people. If it does, it is the correct action to take. If it does not, then an alternative should be found.
the hedonic calculus
The hedonic calculus is a method of applying the utility principle to potential decisions and working out which action will produce the most pleasure.
The hedonic calculus asks seven questions about the potential action. This then concludes how much pleasure and how much pain would result from this action.
hedonic calculus: 7 questions
Purity: Will this pain lead to another pain?
Remoteness: Is the pleasure or pain in the near or distant future?
Richness: Will this pleasure lead to another pleasure?
Intensity: Is the pleasure or pain intense? How intense?
Certainty: How certain are you that the pleasure or pain will actually happen?
Extent: The number of people that would be affected by the pleasure or pain.
Duration: Will the pleasure or pain last for a long time? A short time?
acronym for hedonic calculus questions
PRRICED
Purity
Remoteness
Richness
Intensity’
Certainty
Extent
Duration
what does utilitarianism analyse
whether or not an action gives the greatest happiness to the largest amount of people
What’s the name of the question-based method that can be applied to the utility principle to work out which action will produce the most pleasure in a situation?
hedonic calculus
jeremy benthams act utilitarianism focuses on …
the consequences of an action, not the intention behind it or the moral obligation a human has to others and the world around them
principles of act utilitarianism
Act utilitarianism avoids moral rules, such as the ten commandments, because it is based solely upon the consequences of actions. Moral rules do not apply in this version of utilitarianism.
If an action produces the greatest happiness for the largest amount of people, then a moral rule does not matter.
This means act utilitarianism is known for looking at each situation based on its individuality.
happiness for largest majority
Act utilitarianism focuses on promoting happiness and pleasure over pain for the largest majority of people.
criticisms: pleasure can be bad
Act utilitarianism has a few weaknesses which caused John Stuart Mill to devise rule utilitarianism.
> There are certain situations in which pleasure can actually be bad and pain can be a good thing.
> The hedonic calculus can be used in a bad way to simply achieve what people want rather than looking at what is actually good for the majority.
criticism: family attachments
Bentham says we need to look past family attachments and this shouldn’t come into our decision process.
However, this is impossible as humans do have an obligation to their family and it would be very difficult to not take this into account when making a decision.
act utilitarianism avoids moral rules, such as the ten commandments because …
it is based solely upon the consequence of actions
who devises rule utilitarianism
john stuart mill
rule utilitarianism focuses on …
the application of moral rules to decision-making and how these rules can produce the greatest happiness
rejection of hedonic calculus
Mill rejected the hedonic calculus as he felt it took too long to use it and it could be misused.
mill’s qualitative approach
Whilst Bentham used a quantitative approach to pleasure and happiness - the amount of pleasure - Mill applied a qualitative approach to his version of utilitarianism - some pleasures are better than others.
higher and lower pleasures
Mill divided pleasures into sections: higher and lower pleasures.
> Things like philosophy are higher pleasures, whilst drinking alcohol and eating out in expensive restaurants are lower pleasures.
Mill believed humans should not be aiming for individual pleasures, but for the whole happiness of societies and communities.
‘harm principle’
Additionally, Mill added a ‘harm principle’ on to his version of utilitarianism.
He stated that if an action involved harming another person, it was wrong.
Applying this harm principle to utilitarianism makes the hedonic calculus more ethical and prevents people from using it in a non-moral way.
act vs rule utilitarianism
Bentham focussed on analysing each individual act and the amount of pleasure for the most amount of people.
Mill focussed on applying general rules to decisions and trying to produce the greatest amount of happiness for the whole of human society as opposed to pleasure for the majority.
what principle did mill add onto rule utilitarianism
‘harm’ principle
what is an advantage of applying the harm principle to utilitarianism
makes the hedonic calculus more ethical
