Utilitarianism Flashcards
What is utilitarianism?
It is a normative ethical theory considered to be consequentialist. It’s the consequence of an action that make it either good or bad. Utilitarian theories look to minimise pain and maximise pleasure
First utilitarian and his view
Jeremy Bentham.
— whether an action is right or wrong depends solely on it consequences
— the only thing that is good is happiness
— no individual’s happiness is more important than anyone else’s
What is Act utilitarianism?
It is also quantitative utilitarianism. It’s about qualifying happiness — adding up all the happiness and subtracting pain. Jeremy Bentham provides the FELICIFIC CALCULUS as a way to calculate utility, based on intensity, duration, extent of pleasure and so on.
Problem of Act utilitarianism (difficult to calculate)
You can predict the future, for instance, saving a child’s life is presumably a good way to maximise pleasure, but what if that child went on to become a serial killer as an adult — then saving his life would be a bad thing according to utilitarianism.
But even if we could predict the future:
—How do we compare the variables of the calculus (intensity and duration)
— Which beings do we include in calculation? Animals? Is a dog’s pain equal to human being’s?
Possible response to “difficult to calculate” problem?
Bentham says the felicific calculus is more a general guide to be “kept in view”
“It is not to be expected that this process should be strictly pursued previously to every moral judgment, or to every legislative or judicial operation. It may, however, be always kept in view.”
Problem of Act utilitarianism (Tyranny of the majority) ?
If 100 people get 1 unit of pleasure from seeing an innocent person tortured, and tortured person suffered 20 units of pain, utilitarianism would say this is gods, even though this objectively seems like a morally wrong action
Problem of Act utilitarianism (Moral status of relationships)
If we followed act utilitarianism, we would never be morally permitted to spend time and money with our loved ones. Spending $10 on a present for our mum wouldn’t be as good as buying the same present for a poor guy from Mozambique.
Or the time you spent with your friends made you happy, but volunteering at the local soup kitchen would have increased good for the greater number, so you acted wrongly
Problem of Act utilitarianism (ignores intentions)?
According to utilitarianism, if a villain did accidentally something good with a bad intention - he increased overall pleasure. But what he did was clearly bad - his intention was to commit murder lets say, however utilitarianism ignores it and considers it as a good action.
What is John Mill’s high jet and lower pleasures?
Unlike Bentham, Mill takes a qualitative approach, rather than quantitative. Mill argues that pleasure of mind are higher pleasures, whereas pleasures of body are lower ones. He argues that human prefer higher pleasures as they are intrinsically more valuable, as they contribute to intellectual and moral development. While higher pleasures may lead to dissatisfaction, they provide a deeper and more meaningful sense of fulfillment than the purely physical contentment of lower pleasures.
That is why Mill say: “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied”.
What is Nozick’s experience machine?
Imagine you could be plugged into a virtual reality machine that simulates the experience of a perfect life. In other words, the machine maximises your happiness and minimises your pain. Once plugged in, you don’t know you’re in a virtual reality and you believe your perfect life is completely real.
Yet despite maximising happiness, many people would prefer not to enter the experience machine. These people would prefer to live a real life and be IN CONTACT WITH REALITY even though a real life means less happiness and more pain compared to the experience machine.
What is rule utilitarianism?
Rule utilitarianism focuses on the consequences of general rules rather than specific actions. Rules are decided on the basis of whether they increase happiness and actions are deemed right or wrong depending on whether they ate in accordance with these rules. In ‘tyranny of the majority example’ — as a general rule punishing innocent people leads to more unhappiness.
It still raises problems
1. Should we break rules when it leads to greater happiness? But then how does it differ from act utilitarianism
2. Rule worship — if ‘don’t lie’ increases happiness in general, but you can’t tell a lie even if you would save the whole world, then what is the point of utilitarianism, which is to increase overall happiness?
