Utilitarianism EXAM Flashcards
Higher and Lower Pleasures
‘It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied’ - JS Mill
Higher pleasures require education to understand e.g. philosophy
Lower pleasures e.g. sex
Classist
Rule Utilitarianism
JS Mill’s rule utilitarianism puts that an act is only moral if it produces the most happiness and is in line with a set of rules
The Harm Principle
Those who have experience both ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ pleasures can be ‘competent judges’ on as to a what a ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ pleasure is
Strong rule utilitarianism has certain rules which should never be broke, whereas weak utilitarianism is more flexible rules
Act Utilitarianism
Teleological
Pleasure = Good
Bentham’s Principle of Utility puts that you should pursue ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’ and that ‘it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong’
‘Nature has placed mankind under the government of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure’- Bentham
Criticisms of Act Utilitarianism (x4)
The Hedonic Calculus cannot be used in day-to-day situations
Kant wrote that the ‘ends do not justify the means’ and that we should not use people as ‘a means to an end. Against teleological
Bentham deemed natural rights as ‘nonsense upon stilts’ and act utilitarianism allows actions such as mass murder or gang rape
Sir Bernard Williams thought that if everyone followed act utilitarianism that the resulting society would not be good e.g. organs
Criticisms of Rule Utilitarianism (x3)
Strong rule utilitarians are guilty of rule worship and absolutism. Fletcher supports situational ethics. Stealing money could produce pleasure, as could gang rape
Weak rule utilitarianism picks and chooses when it follows rule, making the rules arbitrary
Mill’s higher and lower pleasures are classist, as not everyone has access to education on academic and leisure subjects e.g. philosophy and opera
Bentham’s Hedonic Calculus
Calculates the pleasure produced by an action
Duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and an extent of pleasure are all factored in
Unlikely that the hedonic calculus could be used in a real-life situation
Criticism of Preference Utilitarianism
Singer thought that babies that potentially had haemophilia should be killed after they were born, rather than aborted in the womb as ‘Self-awareness, which could provide a basis for holding that it is wrong to kill one being and replace it with another, is not to be found in either the foetus or the new-born infant’ – Singer
Preference Utilitarianism
Peter Singer thinks we should seek the good which we rationally prefer as an outcome, even if it to our own detriment
Strictly and unemotionally apply the principles of utilitarianism seeking the general satisfaction of preferences
As there is much more agreement about what causes pain rather than pleasure, people should seek to minimise pain