Utilitarianism- Act Flashcards
Define act utilitarianism
The moral philosophy that holds that the sole criterion for judging the rightness or wrongness of an act is to which extent it maximises happiness.
- related to Bentham and Mill
- is a consequentialist, empirical, teleological theory
Outline Bentham’s argument for hedonistic utilitarianism
Psychology hedonism- A psychological theory that claims that we seek pleasure and avoid pain
Hedonism- Seeking pleasure and avoiding pain is the right thing to do
Hedonistic utilitarianism- We should seek to promote pleasure and avoid pain of other people
-Bentham says do it for the general happiness not the individual.
Explain Bentham’s method for calculating happiness
Hedonic calculus is a quantitative process in calculating happiness
Takes into account 7 different criteria’s that are able to calculate it.
- Intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity and extent.
- Issue: can’t put a numerical label on happiness
Strengths of Bentham’s act utilitarianism
- Determined by context
- simple and clear; makes complicated decisions easy
- Intuitive and commonplace; often do take the general happiness into consideration anyway
- Egalitarian and impartial; each person counts
Objections/ issues with act utilitarianism
- Liberty and rights; doesn’t take into account minorities rights
- Possible value of certain motives; may have bad intentions but there is a good outcome
Calculation; can’t put a numerical value on happiness
Relationships; doesn’t take into account relationships
Conflicts with moral intuition
