Utilitarianism

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43 Terms

1

Meta-ethics

Concerned with certain formal questions about or features of morality.

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Applied ethics

Addresses the moral permissibility of specific actions and practices

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Normative ethics

The reasoned construction of moral principles. It is concerned with theories outlining the most basic goods, virtues or principles of right

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Utilitarianism

A normative ethical theory. It tries to get a fundamental principle of what is right and wrong

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Deontological

Account basic moral rules prescribing right acts, proscribing wrong acts. Focuses on the inherent nature of acts; on their falling into moral kinds (obligatory/forbidden/permitted) which are fixed by a set of rules

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Virtues

Account of human excellences/virtues of the morally noble person. Morally right acts are ones done by a certain kind of person

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Consequentialist

Account desirable results flowing from acts. Focus is on achieving maximum of these desirable results. We must determine the consequences of an act and see if these are desirable.

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Utility

The state of being useful, profitable or beneficial

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Jeremy Bentham Quote

“That property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness or to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil or unhappiness”

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Hedonism

The ethical theory that pleasure is the highest good and proper aim of human life.

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Fecundity

Abundance

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Alturiss

Giving the greatest amount of happiness to the biggest number of people

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Problems with classic utilitarianism

  • How to weigh up the greatest happiness?

  • Can pleasure be weighed? Surely it is subjective

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J Bentham

  • Principle of Utility

  • Everyone has an equal right to happiness

  • Hedonic calculus

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Principle of Utility

An action is judged good or bad according to the results that it achieved

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Hedonic calculus

A method of working out the sum of the total pleasure and pain produced by and act and the total value of its consequences

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How Hedonic calculus is measured

  1. It’s duration - how long will it last

  2. It’s intensity - how intense is it

  3. Propinquity - how near, immediate, certain or remote it is

  4. Purity - how free from pain is the benefit

  5. Fecundity - whether or not it is likely to lead to more happiness

  6. Certainty - how probable it is

  7. Extent - how widely it covers

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Criticism of hedonic views

Murderers can take pleasure in killing people and the pain produced by their actions also has to be considered

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Act utilitarianism

Where what is right is based on assessing the results of particular actions.

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Principle of Utility

The greatest good for the greatest number

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Benevolent

Having no self-interest in something.

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Impartial

No bias towards something

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Rule utilitarianism

Takes into account the general benefit in people following general rules

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Autonomy

Free will

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Strong rule utilitarianism

Holds that one should never break a rule that is established on utilitarianism principles

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Weak rule utilitarianism

There may be situations when the assessment of the results of a particular act may take precedence over the general rule

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Stages of utilitarianism

  • 1st stage: refers acts to rules

  • 2nd stage: validate the rules by reference to a principle of Utility.

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Categorical imperative

  • Universal principle for all autonomous agents without contradiction

  • Not using someone else in order to increase someone else's happiness

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Autonomous

Acting upon free will

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Preference utilitarianism

Judges moral actions depending on whether they fit in with an individuals preference

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Negative utilitarianism

Popper- it is better to minimise suffering than it is to minimise pleasure

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Ideal utilitarianism

Aesthetic experiences + relations of friendship that have intrinsic value, bad things should be prevented.

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Strengths of Rule utilitarianism

  • Avoids the need for the hedonic calculus with the simple, singular principle that people should follow the previously established laws

  • Emphasises the importance of protecting people in society through the moral system that prioritises fairness for everyone

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Weaknesses of rule utilitarianism

  • Subjective - used to people’s advantage in order to justify wrong acts

  • Mill’s conclusion of higher and lower pleasures can be elitist as richer people enjoy higher pleasures and we need the lower pleasures to survive

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Strengths of Act utilitarianism

  • Focuses on the outcome on the situation and aims to get the best result for the greatest number of people

  • Uses the hedonic calculus - used to measure aspects of pleasure to decide whether an action is considered right or wrong

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Weaknesses of Act utilitarianism

  • It is not possible to quantify someone’s happiness - Listing the elements of pleasure does not change the fact that it is impossible to quantify

  • Hedonic calculus can become a reason to justify immoral acts

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Strengths of preference utilitarianism

  • Does not require any calculations to figure out the morally best thing to do - focuses on what is best for everyone personally

  • Flexible - can be applied to a wide range of desires/happiness

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Weakness of preference utilitarianism

  • Certain personal preferences can lead to immorality - certain individuals can have a preference for a cruelty of others

  • Heavily relies on preference - does not evaluate the moral outcomes/value of actions

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Strengths of negative utilitarianism

  • Better to reduce pain than to increase pleasure by the same amount

  • Easier to remove harm than to increase happiness - we do not require a large amount of happiness in order to survive

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