Utilitarianism Flashcards
Who are the key philosophers?
- Jeremy Bentham
- John Stuart Mill
Is this deontological or teleological?
Teleological
David Hume:
NOT A UTILITARIAN
- First to say ethics should be based on pragmatism.
- Inspires Jeremy Bentham to pursue a useful ethical system.
What did Bentham think was the most useful?
Happiness.
Why is it called utilitarianism?
Utility- usefulness= happiness.
Wanted a system that benefitted the whole of society.
Jeremy Bentham quote:
Uses quote from Francis Hutcheson.
‘The greatest happiness for the greatest number’.
Bentham’s focus is on David Hume and Francis Hutcheson.
What is the principle of utility?
Maximise pleasure and minimise pain.
‘governance of two sovereign masters, pleasure and pain’.
Key term to describe utilitarianism?
Hedonistic.
Is utilitarianism relevant today?
Yes, we live in a utilitarian system, democratic.
To Bentham, what is morally correct?
The act that produces the most amount of pleasure and least amount of pain.
Problem with focus on pleasure?
Pleasure is subjective, eg. some people are asexual.
- Are all pleasures good?? Masochism.
- Some pain is good. Pain is protective, eg people who have a disorder where they do not experience pain could severely harm themselves.
- The knowledge of pain makes us avoid scary things.
What calculation does Bentham come up with?
Hedonic calculus.
Pleasure seeker.
Way of calculating benefit or harm (teleological).
Aspects of hedonic calculus?
- Intensity
- Duration
- Certainity
- Fecundity (is it productive?)
- Propinquity (how close is it to pleasure?)
- Purity (is it all pleasure, or some pain?)
- Extent (the more people experiencing the pleasure, the better)
Strengths to Bentham’s thinking:
Weaknesses to Bentham’s thinking:
- Hedonic calculus difficult to apply when faced with an immediate moral dilemma.
- Teleological so requires you to predict the outcome of a situation.
- What counts as pleasure? Subjective.
What problem does JSM have with Bentham’s ethics?
He does not distinguish the types of pleasures. Saw some pleasures as animalistic.
What about the minorities that are then left out?
JSM quote:
‘It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied: better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied’.
When you’re ignorant and not thinking, you’re essentially like a pig or a fool.
What does JSM come up with?
Higher and lower pleasures.
Lower- shared with animals.
Highest- those that ‘stimulate the mind’.
Why do we not always go for the higher pleasures?
Ignorance.
So we need a ‘competent judge’, someone who has experienced the higher and lower pleasures.
They define how much pain/pleasure the action causes as they have experienced both.
What is important to JSM?
Altruism (unselfish love for others).
‘to love one’s neighbour as oneself, constitutes the ideal perfection of Utilitarian morality’. (Jesus’ Golden Rule)
What does JSM come up with due to altruism?
His own principle of utility:
- Happiness is desirable.
- Happiness is the only thing desirable as an end in itself.
- General happiness of all is desirable. Increasing others happiness increases your own.
Bible disagreeing with utilitarianism:
Romans 13:1
‘Let every person be subject to the governing authorities’.
Philosophical critics to Mill:
WD Ross- the trolley argument. People don’t always save the greater good if you could instead save someone in a family.
Henry Sidgwick- how can we distinguish higher and lower pleasures from each other? Which higher pleasure takes priority?
Sex seen as animalistic, but some people are educated in sex, become a sex therapist. Still a lower pleasure??
Act vs Rule:
Act- Bentham
Mill- Rule
Act:
- Looks at the consequences.
- Every individual circumstance must be looked at differently.
- Absolute when applying the hedonic calculus.
- Strong utilitarian.
Rule:
- The focus is on the ‘common good’ rather than each individual action.
- Balance of good over evil and pleasure over pain.
- Basis for morality.
- Weak Utilitarian, doesn’t use hedonic calculus, thinks the rule sometimes needs to change for extreme situations. Eg, don’t have a abortion but what about an ectopic pregnancy? Axe murderer (Kant)
Act utilitarianism critiques:
- Objectively apply hedonic calculus to situation, provides clear guidelines.
- Subjective, takes into account individual acts.
- BUT, HD impractical.
- HD can be used to justify awful things.
Rule Utilitarianism critiques:
- Fair, same applies to everyone.
- Interested in maximising happiness for society. (Bentham pleasure, Mill happiness).
- Based on natural human morality, wanting to help one another.
- BUT, how do you know if a situation is extreme?
