Utilitarianism

Question 1

Bentham’s Act Utilitarianism

Answer 1

‘nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure’
hedonism - the pursuit of pleasure
a good action is one that creates the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people - principle of utility
each separate action is judged to see whether the consequences will create the greatest quantity of happiness overall.

Question 2

The Hedonic Calculus

Answer 2

calculates how much pleasure and pain is created
Intensity - strength of feeling
Duration - how long it will last
Certainty - how likely it is it will happen
Remoteness (propinquity) - how close is it
Richness (fecundity) - will it be repeated or lead to further
Purity - will it be pure pleasure or mixed with pain
Extent - how many people will experience it

Question 3

‘The quantity of pleasure being equal, push-pin is as good as poetry’

Answer 3

there is no hierarchy for the levels of pleasure brought by activities

Question 4

Strengths of Act Utilitarianism

Answer 4

based on humans’ natural instincts
flexible
clear way to weigh up quantity
fair way to make decisions
an ideal to aim for rather than to be strictly followed

Question 5

Weaknesses of Act Utilitarianism

Answer 5

surely some types of pleasure are better than others
predicting the consequences is difficult
measuring pleasure is complicated
it could go against our old ideas of justice
take a long time to work out different options

Question 6

Mill’s Rule Utilitarianism

Answer 6

quantity and quality of pleasure are important
higher pleasures - pleasures of the mind
lower pleasures - pleasures of the body
an action which produces higher quality of pleasure is better than an action which produces lower
‘it is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied’ - intellectual pleasures are better

Question 7

The Harm Principle

Answer 7

individuals should have the liberty to pursue pleasure as they want, however there has to be a limit on liberty to prevent extremely harmful actions

Question 8

Weak Rule Utilitarianism

Answer 8

sometimes rules could be broken if utility was better served by doing so
this would only be in extreme cases where rules would create a very large amount of pain or prevent a large amount of pleasure

Question 9

Strengths of Rule Utilitarianism

Answer 9

recognises that some pleasure are more worth pursuing than others
having rules prevents people from misusing the theory
solves the problem of causing pain to a minority to give pleasure to the minority
still based on the natural human principle of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain

Question 10

Weaknesses of Rule Utilitarianism

Answer 10

life is too complicated to be reduced to happiness alone
even rules based on utilitarian principles could go against human rights
loses the flexibility of original utilitarianism which could cause injustice