Utilitarianism Mocks Cards Flashcards
1
Q
(Historical Context) The Enlightenment
A
- 17th-18th cent. intellectual movement
- rejection of accepted ideas and practises in science and philosophy e.g. Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion
- John Locke (philosopher) claimed nothing could be known except through the senses, a view known as Empiricism which strengthened the view of scientific thinking.
- Educated people became less interested in religion; few were prepared to deny God’s existence but many questioned the authority of the Christian Church
- Associated with anti-clericalism (opposition to the power of the Catholic Church)
- raised questions about the organisation of 18th century European society- which was essentially mediaeval
- enlightenment thinkers were philosophers rather than politicians so little change happened
2
Q
(Historical Context) The Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions
A
- 1770s, farmers began experimenting with machinery and new farming techniques-reduced the need for human labour in agriculture
- labourers out of work in the countryside, went to urban areas to seek employment
- Displaced agricultural workers became factory workers and miners
- A small number of wealthy individuals gained enormous fortunes from exploiting this workforce
3
Q
(Historical Context) The American and French Revolutions
A
- In 1776 thirteen British colonies on the east coast of North America united and declared their independence as the USA due to a tax dispute
- The American Constitution and Declaration of Independence were influenced by the ideas of Thomas Paine. Paine claimed all human beings were born equal and entitled to the same rights and the government should therefore be elected by the people and rule in their name.
- The US became a republic and a democracy
- Paine believed the state had no authority to control conscience, so the US had no official religion and separated the Church from the state
- France supported the US against Britain for political reasons
- Paine’s ideas spread to France:
+ In 1789 a mob attacked and pulled down the Bastille Prison in Paris
+ The Jacobins (radical reformers) exploited the unrest, they wanted to eliminate the French monarchy, the Church and the power of aristocrats and make France a republic
+ In 1792 Louis XVI was executed
The Jacobins abolished Christianity
+ Thousands of priests and nuns were killed along with aristocrats and anyone else who opposed the ‘Revolution’. This period became known as the ‘Great Terror’. - In Britain, the authorities were terrified of a revolution. They turned against anyone who expressed any ‘radical’ ideas. Many English radicals, including Jeremy Bentham, turned to France to publish their work.
4
Q
(Historical Context) The Call for Reform
A
- After Britain defeated France in the Napoleonic Wars (1815), social inequality in Britain remained an unresolved issue
- Parliament was elected by 10% of the population
- Elections were by public acclamation, not secret ballot, and bribery of voters was standard practise
- The Chartists campaigned for voting rights for all adult men
- In 1832 the Reform Act addressed some of their concerns but voting rights remained restricted
- Britain had no welfare state and the poor and unemployed were treated like criminals in workhouses. Britain was the wealthiest country in the world with a vast empire but scarcely any of his wealth was reaching the majority of the population.
5
Q
(Historical Context) Theistic and Deistic Morality
A
- At Bentham’s time, almost everyone would agree that there was some kind of God. Not necessarily the ‘Theistic’ God of Christianity and the Bible.
- Many people believed in a ‘Deistic’ God who created the world and laid down moral laws that were detectible in nature
- Eg. it was argued that it was against nature and therefore against God to steal the property of another, and this was used to justify the harsh penalties for theft. Even if the their was a starving man desperate to feed his family, and the victim was a wealthy landlord, the law of England (based on the Law of God) required that he be punished.
6
Q
(Key Point) Relativism
A
- Bentham is a relativist
- A relativist is someone who believes that the right thing to do could vary from situation to situation, meaning that you cannot formulate any moral laws that are permanent and absolute
- A consequence of relativism is that every supposed ‘moral law’, even ‘thou shalt not murder’, depends on the circumstances.
- Philosophers have gone to great lengths to imagine a situation in which any moral rule could become obsolete, but it is difficult to imagine how some could be justifiably broken under the Principle of Utility
7
Q
(Key Point) Consequentialism
A
- Bentham’s theory is consequentialist because the evaluation of an action as good or bad depends not on the action itself but on its consequences.
- eg Transporting a man to Australia is either good nor bad, but it becomes bad if the man’s wife and children will suffer more than his victims as a result.
8
Q
(Key Point) The ‘Hedonic Calculus’ and ethical objectivism
A
- Bentham wanted his ethical theory to be objective- he did not want right and wrong to be a matter of opinion but a measurable fact
- Bentham thought goodness was determined by the amount of pleasure an action produced, he needed a means to measure how much please was produced by a given action
- the ‘Hedonic Calculus’ divided pleasure into seven qualities: intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity and extent.
- Bentham believed that we could use the Hedonic Calculus to choose between actions resulting in different kinds of pleasure so that our actions would produce the greatest pleasure overall.
9
Q
(Key Point) Rule Utilitarianism
A
- Mill was concerned Bentham’s theory was only concerned with quantity of pleasure, not quality
- Mill believed that if legislators adopted Bentham’s theory it would lead to no social change or improvement. Mill lived in the Victorian age when the ‘improvement’ of ordinary people was one of the main objectives of the educated class.
- Mill needed a way to demonstrate that culture maximises utility. Mill argued that people have different capacities for pleasure and more educated people have a greater capacity for pleasure and that means it is harder for you to be satisfied. A uneducated person is easily satisfied with rubbish. Mill argued that it is utilitarian to encourage culture, even though it is appreciated by the minority, because the minority can bring improvement to the rest and bring about much greater pleasure over all.
- ‘It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.’ - Utilitarianism, Chapter II
10
Q
(Rule Utilitarianism) Criticisms of Act Utilitarianism
A
- Mill’s idea’s go against the act utilitarian nature of Bentham’s theory
- Educating the masses is a long term strategy and may not produce the greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest number in a particular situation
- Mill’s utilitarianism involves the rejection of Bentham’s act utilitarianism. Unlike Bentham, Mill cared what others thought of his theory and wanted to gain general acceptance for it. Mill realised Benthamite act utilitarianism could lead to actions so far removed from the moral norms of society that people would not accept utilitarianism.
- Mill differed from Bentham by taking into account the long-term consequences of actions. He also considered the cumulative effect of actions. It may be the right thing to do an action with a very low utility value if the cumulative effect of such actions could be a great deal of utility.
- Mill realised that if these modifications were made to Bentham’s act utilitarianism, what resulted was a new form of utilitarianism that had rules justified by utility. Mill maintained that rule utilitarianism was a version of theistic morality and claimed that Jesus’ Golden Rule ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you’, was a utilitarian principle and made Jesus a utilitarian. Mill was largely successful in convincing people of his theory and the government began making decisions on a utilitarian basis, as indeed it still does.
11
Q
(Criticisms) The ‘Brutalisation’ Argument [A]
A
- Bernard Williams, Morality
- A utilitarian is always justified in doing the least bad thing that could prevent the worst thing from happening- e.g. torturing a terrorist
- Good people are forced to commit nasty acts- they become brutalised
- “Debases the moral currency”- Williams
- There is no possibility of remaining on the moral high ground in utilitarianism by refraining from certain actions on principle
12
Q
(Criticisms) The Supererogation Argument [A]
A
- Bernard Williams
- Utilitarianism demands too much from us. Every pound I spend could produce far more utility in the Developing World than it does in the way I spend it. Therefore, a utilitarian should give all their money to charity.
- However, the purpose of ethics is to help me live a good life. If utilitarianism demands all this of me, it makes it impossible for me to live a good life.
13
Q
(Criticisms) The Reasonableness Argument [A]
A
- Thomas Nagel, The View from Nowhere
- There is a conflict between the moral life (everyone has equal importance) and the good life (personal fulfilment matters)
- Nagel says it makes no sense to regard myself as the same as everyone else because you wouldn’t tell others to give everything to charity. Therefore you shouldn’t treat yourself so harshly. This is the ‘Criterion of Reasonableness’ (look at others and decide whether it would be reasonable to ask them to do it).
14
Q
(Criticisms) The Social Engineering Argument [A]
A
- Alasdair Macintyre, A Short History of Ethics
- The concept of pleasure or happiness is dangerous because people can be manipulated to be satisfied with almost anything.
- If people are happy, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are living good lives. They may have been trained to enjoy their lives.
- Technically, a Utilitarian government simply needs to be good at social engineering.
15
Q
(Criticisms) The Nazi and the Jews in the cellar [R]
A
- A Nazi calls at your house and asks if you have any Jews in your cellar. Because you are a rule utilitarian and you follow the rule ‘Never lie’, you must tell him the truth that you do and condemn the Jews to a horrible death.
- If this is required by rule utilitarianism, it has no advantage over absolutist morality. It loses its most appealing feature of flexibility and relativism.
- If the rule utilitarian decides to make exceptions for extreme situations, where will he draw the line? The entire edifice of rule utilitarianism risks collapsing if the rules are not followed.
