Utilitarianism Flashcards
Utility Principle
The rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by its utility or usefulness
Hedonic Calculus
Created by Bentham (added to by Mill) this is a utilitarian system whereby the effects of an action can be measured as to the amount of pleasure it may bring.
Act Utilitarianism
A version of utilitarianism according to which rightness or wrongness of individual acts are calculated by the amount of happiness resulting from these acts.
Quantitative
Concerned with the amount.
Qualitative
Concerned with the value and nature.
Rule Utilitarianism
A version of utilitarianism in which general rules are assessed for the happiness making properties rather than individual decisions. Often associated with John Stuart Mill. Actions are therefore ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ depending on whether they conform to a happiness making rule not because of their individual effects.
Preference Utilitarianism
A utilitarian theory interested in the best consequences for those involved rather than what creates the most pleasure and least pain.
Hedonism
The belief that pleasure is the chief ‘good’.
Intensity- HC
How strong it is
Duration - HC
How long it is
It’s uncertainty or certainty- HC
:::
It’s prop inquiry or remoteness- HC
Can you feel it
It’s fecundity or the chance it has of being followed by sensations of the same kind -HC
That’s so pleasures if it be a pleasure pains,if it be a pain
It’s extent- HC
That is the number of persons to whom it extends or in other words who are affected by it.
