Utilitarianism

Revision

Key terms to understandConsequentialismAct UtilitarianismRule UtilitarianismHedonic calculusHedonistQuantitative (amount) and qualitative (quality of)

pleasure

The main players

Jeremy Bentham (1742 – 1832)John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873)

More recently...Peter Singer (preference utilitarian)

The big questions...Is an act right because of the consequence or because it

is right in itself (intrinsically)?

If the former, do you believe the end justifies the means?

Does an act’s ‘rightness’ really boil down to how much happiness results?

Two different types of ethical belief

Deontological – creates rules and duties – something about the act itself makes it right or wrong (example: Kant requires the motive of duty).

“Thou shalt not kill” (ever!)

Teleological – the consequences (telos – end) make an act right or wrong, whether those consequences maximise happiness (Mill) or pleasure (Bentham).

What if killing one person makes a thousand happy?

Measuring consequences - Bentham

A hedonist – believed we all pursue pleasure and avoid pain, “two sovereign masters, pleasure and pain”.

Utility principle – the degree to which something is right depends on its usefulness in creating pleasure.

The greatest pleasure and the least pain to the greatest number

Can you already see problems with this?

The Hedonic CalculusConsiders 7 factors in weighing up pain and pleasure

P.R.R.I.C.E.D = acronym.1. Purity – how free from pain is it? 2. Remoteness – how near is it? 3. Richness – to what extent will it lead to other pleasures?4. Intensity – how powerful is it?5. Certainty – how likely it is to result in pleasure?6. Extent – how many people does it affect? 7. Duration – how long will it last?

John Stuart MillSummary – we are most happy when we are free to pursue

our interests, within the framework of rules that protect the good of everyone.

Accepted utility principle but saw problems in it being solely quantitative.

Developed idea and argued pleasures were qualitative too, “better Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied”.Pleasures of the mind are ‘higher’ than that of the body

Was he a snob?

Act and Rule

Act – each individual act should be tested by the calculus

Rule – is there a general rule which will elad to overall happiness for society?

Jim and the Indians

Bernard Williams (1929-2003) produced the example of Jim invited to shoot one indian as honoured guest, thereby saving the other nineteen.

He argued that this denied us our moral integrity. Many of us just couldn’t do it because of conscience and beliefs.

What about this example…

In 1941 Bletchley Park cracked the German code…and Churchill knew that Coventry would be bombed. He decided to warn no-one as the utility of knowing the code outweighed the risk of death to UK citizens. Six thousand died.

Was Churchill’s decision right?

EvaluationAct – flexible, but...

Can permit actions seen as atrocitiesImpractical as difficult to calculateNo way of discriminating: my pleasure in computer

games = yours from Mozart

Rule – common-sense, but...Can equally force me to cause great sufferingNo protection for minority interests, unless rights

guaranteedProblem of loss of integrity (Bernard Williams’

objection)