Utilitarianism Notes

In groups of 3-5, students should address questions regarding actions that seem clearly wrong versus those that seem clearly right.
The exercise aims to identify what separates these two categories of actions.

Consequentialism: An action's morality is determined by its consequences, not intentions.
Good intentions with bad results are considered impermissible.
Bad intentions with good results are considered permissible.
Both direct and indirect, short-term and long-term consequences are important.

Hedonism: Good and bad, also known as utility, are defined as pleasure/happiness and pain/unhappiness, respectively.
Pleasure/happiness is considered the only intrinsic good.
Pain/unhappiness is considered the only intrinsic bad.
All other forms of good or bad are instrumental, serving as means to achieve pleasure or avoid pain.
Quantity of pleasure/pain, is an objective matter of fact.

Impartiality means that the distribution of good and bad across individuals does not matter.

A right action maximizes overall utility.
A wrong action fails to maximize overall utility.
When making a decision, one should choose the action that produces the most overall utility.

When making a decision, one should choose the option that produces the most overall utility.
Consider the possible actions available.
Assess who each action will affect and the amount of good and bad it will cause for each individual.
Select the action that leads to the best overall result in terms of utility.

Bentham argued:
- Common-sense views on morality align with utilitarianism.
- A good moral theory should offer a way to resolve moral dilemmas, which utilitarianism can consistently do.
- Other moral principles derive their plausibility from their consistency with utilitarianism.

A thought experiment:
- You can save a young orphan from drowning by switching a lever, with no harm to rabbits.
- Alternatively, switching the lever the other way causes a large number of rabbits to experience a faint pleasant sensation, but the child drowns.
- What is the moral course of action?

In response to criticisms that utilitarianism is “a philosophy fit for swine,” Mill introduced qualities of pleasure.
Not all pleasures are equal.
Humans are capable of higher pleasures than animals.

Ranking of pleasure types:
- Best: Intellectual
- Middle: Social
- Worst: Sensual
Rationale for this ranking:
- Determine which of two things is better by seeing which is preferred by those who have experienced both.
- Most people would not trade places with an animal, even a happy animal.
- “Few human creatures would consent to be changed into any of the lower animals for a promise of the fullest allowance of a beast’s pleasures; no intelligent human being would consent to be a fool, no instructed person would be an ignoramus, no person of feeling and conscience would be selfish and base, even though they should be persuaded that the fool, the dunce, or the rascal is better satisfied with his lot than they are with theirs.” (40)

A hypothetical scenario:
- A healthy man undergoes a routine test. A surgeon realizes that killing the man and using his organs for transplant could save five patients who will die without transplants.
- Is it morally permissible to kill the man and harvest his organs?

A trolley is out of control, heading towards five people tied to the track.
You can flip a switch to divert the trolley to an alternate track where only one person is tied.
Is it morally permissible to flip the switch?

A trolley is out of control, heading towards five people tied to the track.
You are on a bridge with a large man.
If you push him off the bridge, he will stop the trolley, saving the five people, but he will die.
Is it morally permissible to push the man?

The best approach is to follow rules that generally produce more utility than other rules.
A right action adheres to a rule that tends to produce more utility than any other rule.
A wrong action does not adhere to such a rule.
Decision-making should involve following rules that tend to produce the most utility overall compared to other rules.

Both agree that following moral rules maximizes utility in most cases but not all.
Both acknowledge the impracticality of calculating utility for every decision.
Both recognize that bias and error can interfere with utility calculations.

Act utilitarians agree with rule utilitarians that moral rules can be important.
But they disagree about breaking the rules
- Act utilitarianism: it is right to break moral rules when that maximizes utility.
- Rule utilitarianism: it is wrong to break moral rules even when it would maximize utility.
- This overall maximizes utility by preventing errors

Moral rule: “Don’t steal”
Act utilitarianism: break the rule if it maximizes utility.
- If C steals, total utility is 17.
If everyone follows the rule, total utility is 13.