Utilitarianism

Who created utilitarianism?

Jeremy Bentham

What argument is the Utilitarianism theory?

Teleological argument- looks at the consequence of an action

Relativist

Looks at the right and wrong (it depends)

Who was Jeremy Bentham? (1748-1832)

The enlightenment period influenced his thinking

London, England

Father was a lawyer

Went to Oxford Univeristy (Child prodigy)

What is Utilitarianism?

The greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

Child prodigy

Was able to read several languages from a young age

His teacher was his dad

His father was a close friend of Jeremy Bentham’s friend

Served as a Liberal MP

John Stuart Mill’s key text

The principle of morals and legislation (1789(

Rule Utilitarianism (John Stuart Mill)

Happiness is much too complex and indefinite a goal

People always preference higher pleasures to lower pleasures except when falling into addiction

Harm Principle (John Stuart Mill)

As long as you’re not harming someone else/prevent harm to others it can be justified

Higher and lower pleasures (John Stuart Mill)

Higher- Intellectual/mental activities

Lower- Food, sex, physical comfort etc

Hedonic calculus (Bentham)

Calculating what will cause the most happiness

1. Intensity- how intense is the pain?

2. Duration how long will the pleasure of pain last?

3. Certainty- how certain are we that’s the pleasure or pain will occur?

4. Fecundity- how likely is it that the pleasure will lead to further pleasures?

5. Propenquity- how soon will the pain or pleasure occur?

6. Purity- some pleasures involve pain as well as which isn’t pure original pleasure

7. Extent- how many people will be affected?

Principle of utility (Bentham)

Theory of usefulness

helps us in our everyday life, guiding us to make ethical decisions in life

Act utilitarianism (Bentham)

Apply the principle of utility to every situation

the principle of utility- maximise set benefit

No fixed moral rules

What is right of world depends on the situation

Preference Utilitarianism (Singer)

Ethical actions should maximise the satisfaction of preferences, rather than pleasure and pain

People should use reason rather than just pleasure and pain

Peter Singer

(1946-present day)

Jewish parents and grandparents

Grandparents died in the holocaust

Australian

Animal liberation

Phillipa Foot- case study

Bentham would pull the lever

Stronger pleasure with 5 people’s lives vs 1 life

Cheriff- case study

Never able to solve the murder

Traveller walked through the village and pin point one person

Jim and the Indians

Hedonic calculus meausurement

Kill all of them or not?

Robert Nozick (Against)

The experience machine is a thought experiment in which a person can choose to plug into a machine that provides them with whatever experiences they desire but it only provides pleasure

Nozick challenges the idea that happiness can be reduced to pleasure, suggesting that there’s more to human life that simply experiencing pleasure

Bernard Williams (Against)

He argues that utilitarians focus on maximising happiness can force individuals to act against their personal values, which may feel morally wrong