utilitarianisum Flashcards
To understand the concept of utilitarianisum
who created utilitarianisum
Jeremy Bentham
what book did Jeremy Bentham wright.
His book was called ‘The Principles of Morals and legislation’
What did Jeremy Bentham believe was the leading motavation of human beings?
Bentham beleived that all human beings pursued pleasure and sought to avoid pain. Bentham saw this as a moral fact, pleasure and pain identify what we should and shouldn’t do.
what was the principle of utility
The rightfullness and wrongfullness of an action were determined by their utility (their usefullness). For Bentham the usefulness of an action depends upon the pleasure of which the action brings about.- an action that produces good for the greatest number of people.
describe the hedonic calculace
the hedonic calculace weighs up the pain and pleasure generated by a moral action
list 4 out of the 7 different factors that the hedonic caluculous weighs up
-its intensity
-its duration
-certainty or uncertainty
-remotness of the action
what is the basis of act utilitarianisum
appling the principle to utility to all actions as all acts are moral.
what is a problem of act utilitarianisum
it would be difficult an inpractical to make have to weigh up the hedonic calculous and find the outcome that benefits the most people for every single decision that you make.
what is the concept of rule utilitarianisum
the concept of rule utilitarianisum states that we shuld use the principle of utility and put that principle into a set of rules which can then be put into action.
what scholar heavily supported rule utilitariansium
j.S Mill
what was jemery benthams view on the concept higher and lower pleasures
Jeremy Bentham beleived that all pleasures are equal in quality as he compared the pleasure from a game of ‘push pin’ to be equal to a theater of an opora. The only difference is the amount of pleasure that is present.
what was j.s mill’s view on different pleasures
mill beleived that there were different pleasures -higher and lower pleasures-
what did j.s mill define as higher and lower pleasures
higher pleasures are pleasures of the mind that only human can experence, where as lower pleasures are pleasures of the body that both humans and pigs can experience. - mill beleives this as we would prefer to be a human than a pig
