Utilitarianism

Principle of Utility

•An action is good if it benefits someone

•An action is bad if it harms someone

•Utility: tendency of an object to produce happiness or prevent unhappiness for an individual or a community

•Happiness = advantage = benefit = good = pleasure=profit

•Unhappiness = disadvantage = cost = evil = pain

Greatest Happiness Principle

What makes behavior right or wrong depends wholly on the consequences.

Focus is on the outcome of an act or application of a rule, and not on intention/ behavior or attitude

 Act-based utilitarianism

we should analyze each of our actions from the perspective of how much happiness we believe they will produce.

Case for Act utilitarianism

•Focus on happiness is reasonable

•Practical, attractive to most people

Case Against Act Utilitarianism

•Unclear whom to include in calculations

•Ignores our innate sense of duty

Utilitarianism

An individual act (X)  is morally acceptable if the consequences that result from (X) produce the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of persons affected by the act.

Workable Theory as focus on happiness is reasonable. Also this theory is practical which appeals to most people.

Rule Utilitarianism

An action is right if it follows to a rule that leads to the greatest good, which means the correctness of a rule is determined by the amount of good it brings about when followed.

Rule Utilitarianism part 2

Rule utilitarianism beliefs that the moral correctness of an action depends on the correctness of the rules that allows it to achieve the greatest good.

Rule Utilitarianism part 3

◦In contrast, act utilitarian judge an act in terms of the consequences of that act alone.

◦In short, we should base our behavior on rules that are understood to maximize collective happiness.

Difference between Act and Rule Utilitarianism

 For rule utilitarian, the correctness of a rule is determined by the amount of good it brings about when followed. In contrast, act utilitarian judge an act in terms of the consequences of that act alone.

Case for Rule Utilitarianism

•Compared to act utilitarianism, it is easier to use the rule.

•Not every moral decision requires performing utilitarian calculus.

•Moral rules survive exceptional situations

       (will not be trapped with the case of not keeping promises, realizing that the long term of keeping promises is better)

Case for Rule Utilitarianism

•Avoid problem of bias

•(asks is it ok for everyone, not is it ok for me)

•Appeals to wide cross section of society

• In other words, an action is justifiable if allowing that action would, as a rule, bring about greater net happiness than forbidding that action.

•Workable ethical theory