Utilitarianism

Question 1

Who invented Act Utilitarianism

Answer 1

Jeremy Bentham

Question 2

What does Act Utilitarianism reflect?

Answer 2

An atheistic understanding of what it is meant to be human. Such an understanding involved no longer considering ourselves as a special part of creation, but as just a part of nature.

Question 3

What does Utilitarianism determine it is human nature to do?

Answer 3

It is the nature of the human animal to seek pleasure and avoid pain, so that’s all there is for morality to be about. From this, Bentham devised the principle of utility.

Question 4

What is the principle of utility?

Answer 4

An action is good if it leads to the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.

Question 5

Why is Utilitarianism a consequentialist theory?

Answer 5

It is what an action “leads to”, or, its consequences, that determines whether it is good.

Question 6

What is Bentham’s Hedonic calculus?

Answer 6

It is a list of seven criteria which each measure a different aspect of the pleasurable consequences of an action. In order to decide which action to do, you need to know in advance which action will result in the greater amount of pleasure.

Question 7

Why is Rule Utilitarianism ‘a doctrine worthy only of swine’?

Answer 7

That the morality of an action reduces entirely to how far it maximises pleasure, provoked many to criticise it for degrading morality and humanity.

Question 8

Why are higher pleasures superior?

Answer 8

Higher pleasures are overall superior at producing a greater quantity of happiness than lower.
Higher pleasures of the mind have no such ill effects and can have a lasting enlightening effect on a mind

Question 9

What is a ‘nearer good’ to Mill?

Answer 9

Lower pleasures are costly because they are addictive and tempt people to choose instant gratification.

Question 10

How does Bentham’s argument of pleasures being equal fail?

Answer 10

That the pleasure gained from poetry is just as valuable as that gained from playing pushpin. Yet even Bentham’s quantitative approach will judge higher pleasures superior for tending to produce more durable pleasure with less cost

Question 11

What are ‘competent judges’ to Mill?

Answer 11

People with experience of both higher and lower pleasures. Mill claims they always prefer higher pleasures to lower pleasures, thus demonstrating their greater quality.

Question 12

According to Mill, why is utilitarianism not a theory only suitable for swine?

Answer 12

“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied”.

Question 13

Why is Mill’s claim rejected?

Answer 13

That a person who can and has experienced higher pleasures will always prefer them to lower ones. There are plenty of times when mentally cultivated people will occasionally give in to instant gratification or even sink into complete addiction to lower pleasures.

Question 14

Why does Mill reject the claim that people always give into instant gratification?

Answer 14

Everyone prefers the highest pleasures they have been able to experience, but it doesn’t follow that everyone always chooses them over lower ones.
Due to falling into addiction, weakness of will, external pressures or lack of internal support.

Question 15

What is Rule Utilitarianism?

Answer 15

Rule Utilitarianism adds the idea of following rules to the principle of utility. So, an action is good if it conforms to a rule which maximises happiness.

Question 16

What is strong Rule Utilitarianism?

Answer 16

Strong Utilitarianism is the view that the rules should be stuck to no matter the situation.

Question 17

What is weak Rule Utilitarianism?

Answer 17

Weak Utilitarianism is the view that the rules can be broken if it maximises happiness to do so.

Question 18

How is strong Rule Utilitarianism criticised?

Answer 18

it has become deontological, for abandoning the principle of utility and its consequentialism and becoming a deontological theory that follows rules for no good, having abandoned its own meta-ethical grounding.

Question 19

How is weak Rule Utilitarianism criticised?

Answer 19

Reducing into act utilitarianism, since they would judge every action the same. If following a rule such as telling the truth maximises happiness in a situation, then both Act and weak Rule would say to tell the truth.

Question 20

What is Mill’s Rule Utilitarianism?

Answer 20

It was an attempt to improve on Bentham’s and arguably also avoids the issues of the strong and weak varieties.

Question 21

What is the ‘First Principle’ according to Mill?

Answer 21

Agrees with Bentham’s principle of Utility, that what makes an action good is the degree to which it promotes happiness over suffering. Mill calls this the principle of Utility

Question 22

Why did Mill disagree with Bentham?

Answer 22

Mill disagreed with Bentham’s approach of judging every action by the principle of utility. Mill claimed that happiness is ‘much too complex and indefinite a goal’ for that.

Question 23

How does Mill attempt to solve the issues of calculation?

Answer 23

‘Secondary principles’ which are more general rules and guidelines. These are the product of our civilisation’s current best attempt to understand how to produce happiness. They are therefore subject to improvement. As particularly obvious examples, Mill points to murder and theft as being injurious.

Question 24

What is the harm principle?

Answer 24

It essentially states that people should be free to do what they want so long as they aren’t harming others. Mill argued that each individual is in the best position to make themselves happy and so if we all allowed each other to do what made us happy, society would overall be the happiest it could be.

Question 25

How do the secondary principles and the harm principle conflict?

Answer 25

In the case of theft, which is a harm, if it is the only way to save a starving family then the secondary principles of not harming and not stealing come into conflict.

Question 26

How does Mill believe we can resolve the conflicts between the harm principle and secondary principles?

Answer 26

If we appeal to the first principle of utility, it looks like we should steal to save starving people.

Question 27

What is a positive of Mill’s Rule Utilitarianism?

Answer 27

It is the perfect synthesis of Act and Rule Utilitarianism. It does avoid the problem of generic Rule Utilitarianism, that it either becomes a meta-ethically empty deontological theory or collapses back into Act Utilitarianism.

Question 28

What is a problem of calculation?

Answer 28

If the goodness of an action depends on whether it maximises pleasure, then we need to know the consequences of the action before we do it. That seems to require that we know the future.

Question 29

How does the hedonic calculus restrict time?

Answer 29

Once we know the consequences of all the actions we could do, we then need to calculate the impact they will have on pleasure and pain. Not just in the short, but in the long-term. We might need to make these calculations in time-sensitive situations.

Question 30

What is an issue with the objectivity of the hedonic calculus?

Answer 30

The calculations about the amount of pleasure and pain an action will lead to require that we measure subjective feelings, which seems impossible. There is no objective way to measure subjective feelings.

Question 31

What is Bentham’s response to the issue of calculation?

Answer 31

That an action is right regarding “the tendency which it appears to have” to maximise happiness. We actually only need to have a reasonable expectation of what the consequences will be based on how similar actions have tended to turn out in the past.

Question 32

How does Mill avoid the calculation issue?

Answer 32

We only need to know the secondary principles that our civilisation has, through its collective efforts and experience, judged to be those best conducive to happiness.

Question 33

How does Mill argue that Utilitarianism is a successful theory despite the fact you cannot perfectly act on the principle of utility?

Answer 33

Society also ought to be progressive, meaning it should retrospectively assess and improve its principles and rules. This works and in principle can continue to work better as we discover more, biologically, psychologically, sociologically and politically how to maximise happiness.

Question 34

Why is Utilitarianism not compatible with human rights?

Answer 34

The moral basis of human rights is deontological because human rights are intrinsically good, this is incompatible with consequentialist ethics like Utilitarianism, which argue that something is only good depending on whether it leads to happiness.

Question 35

What is the tyranny of the majority?

Answer 35

When a majority of people decide, for their benefit, to outnumber a minority.

Question 36

Why is the harm principle unable to be achieved?

Answer 36

There will always be a minority in fields such as business and capitalism, politics.
Universal happiness is never fully guaranteed.

Question 37

How does Mill aim to prevent the exploitation of human rights through the harm principle?

Answer 37

The rule of the harm principle will result in a happier society than one which doesn’t. Since torture is harm, Mill’s utilitarianism can overrule individual cases where torture might result in happiness.

Question 38

Why does Mill not believe in human rights?

Answer 38

While Mill doesn’t believe in intrinsic rights, he proposes rules which seem identical to rights in their ethical outcome. Arguably that is sufficient.

Question 39

Why is trying to achieve personal happiness difficult?

Answer 39

Individuals may not be in the best position to figure out and follow through on what will make them happy. This can be seen by the various mistakes and bad life choices people make when trying to achieve happiness.

Question 40

What is an issue with secular society and the principle of utility?

Answer 40

People have become selfishly focused on their own happiness. The hyper-individualism that comes from capitalism and the oversexualisation of western culture are argued to be the result of Mill’s liberalism and his utopian belief that individuals best know how to make themselves happy.

Question 41

Why is the period of time Mill was writing important when considering the principle of utility?

Answer 41

Religion and culture created a huge pressure of social conformity. Mill thought that because people were different, each person would be much better off trying figure out what made them happy than forced to behave the way others might prefer.

Question 42

What is the issue of intentions and character?

Answer 42

Utilitarianism only views the consequences of actions as good, not the character (integrity) of the person who performs them. This goes against the intuition that a person can be a good person. It is only consequences which are good or bad, not intentions/character.

Question 43

Why does Mill argue that a person’s intentions matter?

Answer 43

A person’s character does matter because it will determine their future actions. Mill argues that having a good character helps you become happy. Motives and character therefore do matter ethically, as they result in good consequences, in line with consequentialism.

Question 44

What is the issue of partiality?

Answer 44

It does not consider an individual’s particular emotional ties to their family or friends as relevant to that ethical calculation. Utilitarianism seems to be against the foundation of familial relationships which is at least a practical impediment to its implantability because family relationships define so much of our social existence. It is arguably also a conceptual flaw since family is intuitively thought of as a good thing.

Question 45

What does Peter Singer view on familial relationships?

Answer 45

Singer points out that there have been experiments at bringing up children without parents and that they haven’t worked out well. So, if no one had a family, people would be much less happy therefore perhaps the happiness we gain from family is worth the unhappiness caused by our exclusion of those who are not in our family.

Question 46

What is a flaw to Singer’s argument of family?

Answer 46

Parents in the west spend a lot their children, if half that money were given to charity instead, the amount of suffering that reduced might outweigh the happiness the world gains by having family relationships.

Question 47

What is Giles Fraser’s view on the burning building?

Answer 47

Utility based ethics seems to suggest that saving the painting is better than saving a child because we could sell the painting for enough money to save the life of a hundred children. Giles Fraser argues that saving the painting suggests a lack of sympathy for the child and thus Utilitarianism encourages us to be immoral.

Question 48

How does William MacAskill defend the burning building analogy?

Answer 48

Saving the painting suggests a more cultivated sympathy which is able to connect to the many more children elsewhere who are in just as much need of saving and outnumber the single child there now. Their needs are greater than the individual needs of the one child.

Question 49

Why is Utilitarianism impossible in reality?

Answer 49

It is practically impossible to expect people to act in this way, even if we admitted it was right in theory. Human emotions are thus a practical impediment to the implementation of utilitarianism.

Question 50

What is preference utilitarianism?

Answer 50

Preference utilitarianism entails promoting actions that fulfil the interests of those beings involved.

Question 51

What is Peter Singer’s preference utilitarianism?

Answer 51

When thinking ethically one should take the view of the ‘impartial observer’. By this he means that your own interests cannot take precedence over anyone else’s interest just because they belong to you.