Bentham's Act Utilitarianism

What sort of theory is it?

a normative ethical theory, first systematised by Bentham and developed by Mill

What does it provide?

a non-religious basis for ethics. Without an afterlife or duties togod, the goal of ethical action focuses on making human life as good as possible

What does Bentham say?

‘nature has placed us under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.’

What does Bentham mean by this quote? (‘..pain and pleasure’)

it is human nature to find pleasure good. Bentham says we are simply determined for our ultimate goal to be happiness, understood as pleasure minus pain

What does Bentham claim?

even if we pretend to have some other goal,we will still be bound to seeking happiness.He claims this is where the ‘standard of right and wrong’ can be perceived

What is the ultimate goal?

pleasure is our sole ultimate goal, it is a view called psychological hedonism

What is Bentham's meta-ethical justification for the principle of utility?

an action is good if it leads to the greatest pleasure for the greatest number of people

How is this variety of utilitarianism distinguished?

how we apply and act on the principle of utility

what does it claim about the principle of utility?

It must be applied to each individual moral action

How would an action be classified as good?

If it maximises utility

How do we know whether an action is right?

it requires the calculating of the amount of pleasure and pain produced by the actions we could do. The morally right action is the one which produces the greatest pleasure for the greatest number of people

What did Bentham create?

the utility/hedonic calculus.

What is the hedonic calculus?

a list of 7 criteria which must be considered when calculating the pleasure caused by the actions we could do

What are the seven factors included?

• intensity - how intense the pleasure or pain is

• duration - how long the pleasure lasts

• extent - how many people are affected

• certainty - how certain we are that the pleasure will occur

• remoteness - how far away in time the pleasure is

• purity - whether the pleasure is mixed with pain

• fecundity - whether the pleasure will lead to more pleasure or not

Give an example of this

an intense pleasure we are quite certain will occur soon, is better than a very minor pleasure we are very uncertain might happen in a month's time, even if it would happen to two people

how would be the morally right action be determined by the hedonic calculus?

the morally right action is the one which the utility calculus informs us will maximise pleasure compared to the other actions we could do