Utilitarianism - Sheet1 Flashcards
(35 cards)
Briefly, what is Utilitarianism?
The greatest good, for the greatest number
What does utility mean?
How useful something is
The greatest good, for the greatest number originally started as a what instead of an academic analysis of morality?
A political theory
Who created Utilitarianism?
Jeremy Bentham
Why did Jeremy Bentham create Utilitarianism?
He was concerned that morality was being diversified because it rested on multiple foundations and was therefore too subjective.
Bentham believed that there was no coherent way to make moral decisions, so what did he say Utilitarianism sorted out?
Our moral compasses
What did Bentham say were humans sovereign masters?
He said that Nature placed humanity under the governance of two sovereign masters, Pleasure and Pain
What should be minimized and maximized and for who?
Pleasure should be maximised and pain should be minimized for the majority of people
What is Hedonic Utilitarianism?
Someone who seeks pleasure
The rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by its utility or usefulness. What is usefulness in this case?
Usefulness refers to the amount of pleasure or hapiness caused by an action
Name the 7 factors on the Hedonic calculus which measure how pleasurable something is?
Intensity, Duration, Certainty, Extent, Remoteness, Richness and Purity
What is a contradiction of the sections in the Hedonic calculus?
Not every person completely understands all of its sections
What is the Hedonic calculus based on?
A quantitative method of maximising pleasure and minimising pain
What do we look into the future for in Utilitarianism?
Consequences
What is a criticism about looking into consequences in Utilitarianism?
We do not know how far we should look into the future for the consequences
What does the theory only work well on which is a criticism?
It only works well on a personal level
What is a criticism of the hedonic calculus ?
It needs to be more applicable in its sections
What can alter that is a criticism of Utilitarianism?
Conceptions of pleasure can change and alter?
What is Utilitarianism too concerned about?
The ends
Utilitarianism is consequentialist to the absurd, what does this mean?
It is too concerned with the ends that it takes no account of the motives. E.g. It is ok to kill a paedophile as the consequences are that there is 1 less paedophile in the world but this is wrong as killing is wrong, meaning that the ends may define an immoral act
What can be hard to define?
Happiness and what counts as pleasure
What is meant by the Hedonic calculus is predictive in nature?
It tries to foresee the future and it attempts to measure the immeaureable and things do not always continue as planned.
What is the main criticism?
The tyranny of the majority. Taking the theory at face value means that it could allow racism and cultural ignorance to be strife in a country where its majority is white males. E.g a group of Muslims building a mosque in a white dominated city and it gets overturned
Who was John Stuart Mill and what did he do?
He was the God Son of Bentham, he continued his work on Utilitarianism.