Utilitarianism Flashcards
Meaning of Hedonism
Pleasure/happiness is the only intrinsic good in human life
Intrinsic vs instrumental good (Hedonism)
Intrinsic – good in itself
E.g. friendship, love, happiness, health, life
Instrumental – good to help achieve/bring about something else
E.g. studying is good for achieving high grades, exercise is good to achieve health
Meaning of Objective list theory
Hedonism + Desired theories= objective list theory
claim that something (anything) is an aspect of one’s well-being
Meaning of Desire-fulfillment
Something is valuable only when we value/desire it
Subjective – “your” good life
what is Meaningful lives
A hybrid theory - both objective and subjective elements
How can you understand this?
Susan Wolf’s criteria for meaningfulness:
Active engagement (subjective element)
Worthwhile activity (objective element)
Degree of success (measurable)
What Moral theories are there?
Meta-ethics
Determines the foundation of the subject, asks questions like:
The meaning of moral statements (fact or emotional response, objective or subjective)
Normative ethics
Proves the framework for understanding ethics, the criteria for judgement (i.e. what makes right actions, right?), guides our decision making generally
Applied ethics
Individual questions and issues like (for us in 1030) privacy, spying, autonomy, personhood
Moral theories purpose and requirements?
The purpose of moral theories:
Provide systematic and structured understanding of how to engage with the world
The requirements
Must give principled categorization of right/wrong; good/bad
Must be action-guiding
Must be formal and logical
what are the 4 primary bases for moral judgement?
- Consequences (teleological theories)
Consequences are primary (what actions bring about – not what the action is) - The nature of action (deontological theories)
Properties of the action itself are primary (the action itself – not what the action brings about) - The character of the moral agent (virtue theories)
The settled character traits of the person are primary (virtue/vice) - The nature of rational agreement/disagreement (social contract theories)
What rational people acting in enlightened self-interest would agree
what was Bentham theory on Utlity
a moral theory that argues that actions should be judged right or wrong
the empirical truth of hedonism guides our moral deliberation and judgement
What theory was Hedonic calculus
is used to evaluate how much pleasure or pain would be caused by an action.
(calculate) A group of you have gone out for dinner to celebrate Brooklyn’s birthday.
You all agreed on pizza as it appeals to most people, but now how do you decide what type of pizza to order?
Maximize people’s preferences - likes?
Minimize people’s preferences - dislikes?
Avoid all together harmful options?
John Mill theory
Happiness – qualitative
Higher and lower pleasures
higher ex:
poetry
art
studying
reading
Lower ex:
exercising
relaxing
movies
food
Bentham vs Mill
Bentham
Sensory pleasure/pain
Quantitative (amount only)
Act utilitarianism
Calculate the direct effects of each action
Mill
Higher/lower pleasure
Qualitative (seek higher
Rule utilitarianism
Follow the rule that generally maximizes pleasure
Rule vs Act
Act utilitarianism is interested only in an action’s impact when judging if that action was good; a rule utilitarian, on the other hand, would be interested in the goodness or badness of the moral rule that the action follows.
What is the 4 theories of well being ?
Hedonism
Objective list theory
Desire-fulfillment theory
Meaningful lives
What are some problems/weaknesses of utilitarian moral theory?
1 Problem of relevant beings
2 The ‘too demanding’ objection
Maximizing
3. Tyranny of the majority
Legal or basic human rights
4. Integrity
Blood on your hands, or sacrifice
5. The problem of partiality
Impartial bystander
