Utilitarianism Flashcards
3 types of utilitarianism:
- act utilitarianism
- rule utilitarianism
- preference utilitarianism
AU:
- consequentialist
- maximize the good
- total up the positives and subtract the negatives
- whatever action produces the highest score is the one you ought to take
In AU, one action isn’t just ____ ____, it is _____.
- less good
- unethical/wrong
AU looks to maximize:
- happiness
- well-being
- goodness
- pleasure
Hedonist AU maximizes…
pleasure
Hedonic (Bentham’s Felicific) Calculus 7 criteria:
- duration
- intensity
- propinquity (near or remote)
- extent (how widely it covers)
- certainty
- purity (free from pain)
- fecundity (lead to further pleasure)
What can be a 8th aspect added to the 7 criteria?
quality of pleasure
Give an example of using higher quality pleasure for justification:
not starving is a higher quality pleasure than running a business (stealing loaf of bread)
RU addresses concerns with…
AU
RU:
- devise rules that when everyone follows them create the greatest good
- each rule is evaluated like each act: there can be only one
Discuss the organ transplant problem with AU:
- killing one person to take organs for 5 people
- pleasure for 5 trumps pleasure for 1
Discuss the organ transplant problem with RU:
- generalize from specific to generic, create a rule that covers all
- ex. always harvest organs when better for more people
- ex. never harvest organs
- what is everyone dies from illness from one person’s organs?
Quality argument for organ transplant problem:
won’t save innocent people vs won’t kill innocent people
Discuss robbing a bank with RU:
- you go to jail but many people get money
- we aren’t happier as a society overall
- people that have negative bank accounts is less than 50%
Discuss the trolley problem with AU:
- you should save 4 guys over 1
- if all 5 people are the same, pull the lever
- if one guy is a saint, then that can change
Discuss the trolley problem with RU:
- generate some rules
- ex. always pull levers when you can kill less people (doing something to kill)
- ex. always pull levers when you can save more people (doing something to save)
AU allows us to consider _____ whereas RU doesn’t.
specifics
____ can collapse into ____. Some argue there is no such thing as ____ then.
- RU
- AU
- RU
Some say ____ is too specific and too many consequences have to be considered. ____ is better because it covers all instances.
- AU
- RU
Discuss stopping at a red light while rushing someone to the hospital with AU.
probably should do it if this saved the person’s life and didn’t kill anyone else in the process
Discuss stopping at a red light while rushing someone to the hospital with RU.
Probably not because running red lights when you have somewhere more important to be is not a rule that would make the world better if everyone adopted
One problem with AU and RU is that they only count …
actual or expected consequences
Discuss the peeping Tom example with AU.
- is your welfare decreased more than the peeping Tom’s is increased?
- what if you didn’t notice?
- peeping tom is ethical
Discuss the peeping Tom example with RU.
- is this a rule we can set for everyone?
- he gets pleasure seeing you undress, but you don’t get any negatives
- you should never look out the window
- always have lights on, windows open
- peeping tom is ethical
PU:
- what really matters is that we have our preferences met
- the best judge of what is good and bad for a given individual is his or her preferences
- must be self-regarding, intrinsic desires/preferences
Discuss the peeping tom example with PU:
- we prefer to have privacy, regardless of whether we actually know the peeping tom is there
- not a expected outcome, can’t be upset over something we don’t know about
- unethical, because they frustrate our preference for privacy
Discuss this with AU, RU, and PU. “Should I lie to win the game?”
- AU: lie if winning produces more welfare
- RU: lie only if you’re sure you won’t get caught and pleasure is increased
- PU: lying frustrates athletes’ desire to win honestly. So never lie
5 critiques of utilitarianism:
- impossible to apply
- threat to close friends and family
- too demanding
- too permissive
- doesn’t take equality seriously
How is utilitarianism impossible to apply?
- how to measure all of the consequences?
- practical/technical problems
How is utilitarianism a threat to close friends and family?
- should you trade in your friends for better ones?
- friendships could be bad
- inconsistent application of utilitarianism
How is utilitarianism too demanding?
- only one right choice, all others are wrong
- strict vs unreasonably strict demands
- ex. giving to charity: give to charity, give all your wealth to charity are both wrong. Rob a bank and give that money as well is correct
How is utilitarianism too permissive?
- only consequences matter
- the act itself is neither right or wrong
- actively knowingly killing an innocent could be the morally correct thing to do if the right consequences apply
What would a utilitarian say about slavery?
if it can produce more happiness, you have to do it. It is ethically correct
_____ and utilitarianism don’t go together.
fairness
How does utilitarianism not take equity seriously?
- can justify slavery if it makes society better off
- if all the factors were considered over the long term, no defence of slavery can be mounted, but this isn’t possible
______ don’t matter for utilitarians, so…
- motives
- trying to harm someone and accidentally helping them means you were ethical
PU can promote ____ even ____ _____ behaviours.
- selfish
- self-damaging
- ex. prefer to be lazy or to eat junk food
