Utilitarianism

Question 1

What does hedonism mean?

Answer 1

View that pleasure is the chief good

Question 2

Teleological ethics

Answer 2

Moral actions are right or wrong according to their outcome or teleos (end)

Question 3

What the principle of utility?

Answer 3

The theory of usefulness- the greatest happiness for the greatest number

Question 4

What is the purpose of morality?

Answer 4

To guide people’s actions in such a way to produce a better world.
Producing good consequences (not just having good intentions)

Question 5

what does intrinsic value mean?

Answer 5

the best outcome

Question 6

what is the fundamental imperative?

Answer 6

To always act in a way which will produce the greatest overall amount of good in the world

Question 7

what does UT ask us to do?

Answer 7

asks us to always do the most to maximise utility and not do the minimum. Asks us to set aside personal interests and to think about everyone not the individual

Question 8

What does Jeremy Bentham, who proposed act UT, say/ quote about pleasure and pain?

Answer 8

“nature has placed man under the government of two sovereign masters, pleasure and pain. (It if for them alone o point to what we ought to do as well as what we should do)”

Question 9

what did Bentham say about natural law and natural rights?

Answer 9

they are “nonsense upon stilts”

Question 10

what did Bentham argue in favour for in the 18th century?

Answer 10

equal rights for women, end of slavery, right to divorce, abolishing the death penalty

Question 11

Bentham wanted to provide an ethical theory for society to live by which balanced pain and pleasure, because he believed pleasure was the sole good and pain was the sole evil, what was this calculation called?

Answer 11

The Hedonic Calculus

Question 12

what were some of the seven features of pleasure listed in the hedonic calculus?

Answer 12

duration
certainty
propinquity
purity
extent

Question 13

what was one of the problems with the hedonic calculus?

Answer 13

how do we measure pleasure?

Question 14

What does consequentialist mean?

Answer 14

Someone who decides whether an action is good or bad by its consequences

Question 15

John Stuart Mill had a love of learning, what was this called?

Answer 15

precocious

Question 16

what did Mill want to maximise instead of pleasure?

Answer 16

happiness

Question 17

Mill believed that the quality of pleasure was more important that what?

Answer 17

quantity

Question 18

Mill believed that pleasure of the what was more valuable that pleasure of the body?

Answer 18

mind

Question 19

what was Mill’s famous quote?

Answer 19

“it is better to be socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied”

Question 20

Mill believed in “competent judges” what does this mean?

Answer 20

those who experienced both kinds of pleasure would choose the “higher” pleasure of the mind rather than the “lower” pleasure of the body

Question 21

what type of UT did Mill argue for?

Answer 21

Rule UT- follows rules which can not be broken

Question 22

what are the strengths of Rule UT

Answer 22

rules are established through the application of UT principles and should never be broken

Question 23

what are the weaknesses of Rule UT?

Answer 23

takes too much time to calculate if violating a rule is acceptable

Question 24

what are the strength of Act UT?

Answer 24

allows the violation of rules and uses wisdom based on the accumulated knowledge of past situations

Question 25

UT is a relativist system what does this mean?

Answer 25

?

Question 26

what was happening during the 18th century which helped develop Bentham’s theory?

Answer 26

industrialisation and revolution

Question 27

what is the “utility principle” which formulated the basis of UT, which was coined by Francis Huntcheson?

Answer 27

“the greatest good for the greatest number”

Question 28

what was the main criticism of UT?

Answer 28

that it could justify horrific acts such as child abuse and torture, if these acts gave more pleasure to those inflicting the pain than the one who was suffering from the act itself

Question 29

what is wrong with the distinction between higher and lower pleasure?

Answer 29

it is too subjective

Question 30

what modern approach does Peter Singer take?

Answer 30

preference U = maximising the utility for the majority, this defines the outcome as “preference satisfaction”

Question 31

what does R.M. Hare believe a moral action should do?

Answer 31

follow a set of simple and obvious moral laws, which can be broken occasionally

Question 32

what does G.E.Moore argue should be valued over pleasure?

Answer 32

ideals which would be maximised in society and promoted through: beauty
peace
justice
truth

Question 33

what does Karl Popper say we should seek to do?

Answer 33

reduce the amount of pain, avoidance of pain is more valuable goal than creating happiness

Question 34

what does R.Goodin argue for with welfare UT?

Answer 34

the goal of an action should be to provide the necessary conditions to live comfortably