Ethics Exam 2- Bentham

Principle of Utility

According to this principle, the correct actions are the ones that maximize the total net
happiness of everyone concerned

Starting assumption

Pain and pleasure govern our actions not only as causes, but
also as the standard for what is right and wrong.

Utility

The name for the property of actions that we
are seeking to maximize. It is the good that we are seeking to increase. 

Pleasure and Happiness

Bentham thinks pleasure and happiness are the same thing and they are both the good. 

Actions conformable to the principle of utility: Actions that increase the net happiness.

The correct action is the one that maximizes the total net happiness

Impossibility of proving the principle of utility

We cannot prove that maximizing happiness is the good.

Indirect proof

Claim that any argument against the principle of utility will end up relying on the principle of utility

Moral sense theory / Principle of sympathy and antipathy

in addition to our 5 basic senses, we have a sort of 6th sense that allows us to perceive the moral qualities of action

Principle of asceticism

The exact opposite of Utilitarianism: pain is good; pleasure is bad

Theological principle

This principle says we should defer to the will of God for our standard of right and wrong

The four sanctions or sources of pleasure and pain

Physical, political, moral, religious

Physical

Any physical source of pleasure and pain (etc. hitting someone with a stick (pain) then giving them ice cream (pleasure) )

Political

Any sources coming from government (etc. honors (pleasure) or jail (pain) )

Moral 

Any source coming from community (acceptance (pleasure) or blame (pain) )

Religious

Any sources coming from supernatural beings (heaven (pleasure) or hell (pain) )

Ways pleasure and pain are measured

• Intensity: how strong or intense it is
  ▪ Duration: how long it lasts
  ▪ Certainty/uncertainty: how likely it is to actually result from the action
  ▪ Propinquity (nearness)/ remoteness: I think he means in time
  ▪ Fecundity: the chance it has of giving rise to additional pleasures/pains
  ▪ Purity: how likely it is to be followed by the opposite sensation
  ▪ Extent: the number of persons to whom it extends