Utilitarianism Flashcards
Utilitarianism
an act being morally right or wrong depends solely on the consequence
An act that brings about at least as much pleasure or wellbeing as every alternative act is
morally right
Acts that do not maximize pleasure or wellbeing are
morally wrong
Utilitarian ethics often
conflict with conventional morality and deeply rooted moral norms
Example of utilitarian belief
Politician lying may be optimal if it reduces negative consequences for general public
first utilitarianist
Jeremy Bentham
Bentham didn’t define well the word
“tendency”
Utilitarianists distinguish between (acts)
Particular acts and act types
Act type defined
by set of properties shared by all particular acts that are shared in certain respects
Utilitarianists believe that particular acts should be
evaluated morally, not act types
Utilitarianists distinguish between (consequences)
Actual consequences, foreseeable/expected consequences
Expected consequences are calculated by
multiplying the probabilities of every expected consequences by the value of the consequences
Rule utilitarianism
we ought to act according to a set of rules that would lead to optimal consequences if they were accepted by an overwhelming majority of people in society
Act utilitarianism
the right-making features of an act are the consequences of the particular act
The most well know version of utilitarianism
classic hedonistic act utilitarianism
classic hedonistic act utilitarianism characterized by belief that
“Happiness is good for its own sake” and “happiness is the net balance of pleasure over pain”
What is the essential determiner of moral value for utilitarians?
Sentience (capacity for perception)
Utilitarians believe that we must consider future generations when weighing a moral judgement (T/F)
T
What is the key point over which act utilitarians disagree with rule utilitarians?
Act utilitarians believe it is inappropriate to divert attention, by focusing on rule-making, away from the particular acts that provide the features relevant to moral analysis
Bentham’s hedonistic theory of the good is ___
additive
Example of additive hedonistic theory
50 pleasure units + 20 pleasure units = 70 units
Equality is
of no direct relevance in hedonistic utilitarian theory
Alternative to hedonistic utilitarianism
Preference utilitarianism
Preference utilitarianism
What makes something good for its own sake is that people’s preferences get satisfied
Preference utilitarianism is a form of relativism because the scope of the theory is still universal (T/F)
F
Consequentialism
There are many views on how exactly the moral properties of our acts correlate with their consequences
Utilitarianism is a ___ of consequentialist moral theories
version of a broader class
Consequentialist egalitarianists believe
an act is right iff the wellbeing produced by the act is distributed equally in society
All consequentialists agree that
whether something has a moral property depends only on the consequences
Objections
- Some acts that bring about better overall benefit is nevertheless wrong
- Utilitarianism cannot honor the moral boundary separating one person from another
- many versions of utilitarianism are too demanding
