ETIC111: ETHICAL THEORIES [UTILITARIANISM]

Utilitarianism

An ethical theory that argues for the goodness of pleasure and the determination of right behavior based on the usefulness or consequences of an action

1. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

2. John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

The 2 Foremost Utilitarian Thinkers

Jeremy Bentham

Founder of Utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham

Noted British philosopher & social reformer born on February 15, 1748

Jeremy Bentham

Most famous for proposing the "Doctrine of Utilitarianism"

Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789)

Jeremy Bentham's first major work

The Doctrine of Utilitarianism

Is based on the idea that pleasure & pain are the motivation for all human action

The Doctrine of Utilitarianism

The guiding principle of conduct in Jeremy Bentham's first major work

Jeremy Bentham

Spent a large part of his life advocating legal reforms

Jeremy Bentham

Also influenced political reform in England through the Reform Bill of 1832 & the introduction of the secret ballot

The Principle of Utility

Is about our subjection to these sovereign masters: Pleasure & Pain

Pleasure & Pain

Sovereign masters

Pleasure & pain (Sovereign Masters)

Bentham equates this to happiness with pleasure

Bentham's (7 Criteria of the) Felicific Calculus

Pleasure can be "scientifically" calculated through this

1. Duration

2. Intensity

3. Propinquity

4. Extent

5. Certainty

6. Purity

7. Fecundity

Bentham's (7 Criteria of the) Felicific Calculus

Duration

How long it will last?

Intensity

How intense is it?

Propinquity

How near or remote?

Extent

How widely it covers?

Certainty

How probable is it?

Purity

How free from pain is it?

Fecundity

Lead to further pleasure?

John Stuart Mill

Bentham's godson

John Stuart Mill

Believed that happiness, not pleasure, should be the standard of utility

True

Pleasure is not the same as happiness (True or False)

Pleasure

Gratification

Pleasure

Pursued as an end in its own right

Happiness

Satisfaction

Happiness

An indirect by-product of another activity

Qualitative Utilitarianism

Proposed by John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill

Rejected Bentham's use of the hedonic Calculus. In his view some pleasures are of a higher quality than others.

Higher Pleasures

Intellectual

Lower Pleasures

Appetite

True

Mill argues that we must consider the quality of the happiness, not merely the quantity (True or False)

True

For Mill, utilitarianism cannot promote the kind of pleasures appropriate to pigs or to any other animals (True or False)

True

For Mill, crude bestial pleasures, which are appropriate for animals, are degrading to us because we are by nature not easily satisfied by pleasures only for pigs (True or False)

Human Pleasures

Are qualitatively different from animals pleasures

True

Mill argues that quality is more preferable than quantity (True or False)

True

An excessive quantity of what is otherwise pleasurable might result in pain (True or False)

True

It is being taught in quantitative utilitarianism that "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied" (True or False)

True

It is necessary for us to consider everyone's happiness, including our own, as the standard by which to evaluate what is moral (True or False)

Utilitarianism

It interested with everyone's happiness, in fact,

the greatest happiness of the greatest number

True

If we are the only ones satisfied by our actions, it does not constitute a moral good, in this sense,

utilitarianism is not dismissive of sacrifices that procure more happiness for others (True or False)

John Stuart Mill

He quoted "In the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth, we read the complete spirit of the ethics of utility. To do as one would be done by, and to love one's neighbour as oneself, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality."

True

When legal rights are not morally justified

in accordance to the greatest happiness principle,

then these rights need neither be observed, nor be respected (True or False)

Ghandi

He quoted "When a law is unjust, it is only right to obey."

True

Mill seems to be suggesting that it is morally permissible to not follow, even violate, an unjust law. The implication is that those protest over political policies of a morally objectionable government act in a morally obligatory way (True or False)

Martin Luther King Jr.

He quoted "One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty."

True

Mill thinks that it is commendable to endure legal punishments for acts of civil disobedience for the sake of promoting a higher moral good (True or False)

True

Some moral rights can be overridden for the sake of the greater general happiness (True or False)

True

Mill's moral rights and considerations of justice are not absolute, but are only justified

by their consequences to promote the greatest good of the greatest number (True or False)