Bentham

• What is a key example of a naturalist theory?

  Utilitarianism
• Who came up with the theory - utilitarianism?

  Jeremy Bentham
• Give the key quote for Jeremy Bentham regarding utilitarianism:

  “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters.”

  • He identifies pain & pleasure as not only determining what in fact motivates and directs our lives, but also what ought to do so.
  • In other words, he argues that a natural feature of life determines both descriptive and normative ethics.
• What is Jeremy Bentham’s view regarding utilitarianism?

  • Pain and pleasure rule us - we observe their relationship with action as a matter of cause and effect, but we also recognise that they lie behind all claims about what we ’ought‘ to do. Morality is therefore linked to observation and experience - the very essence of ethical naturalism.
  • Pleasure (or happiness) is the one intrinsic good: it is the one thing that is good in itself, and not for some other valuable thing that it produces.
  • Likewise, pain and unhappiness is the one intrinsic evil.
• According to Bentham, why should we use the observable facts of pain and pleasure to determine moral obligation?


  So that we can maximise pleasure and minimise pain.
• According to Bentham, how does pain and pleasure rule humankind?

  We ourselves seek to achieve pleasure and avoid pain.
• Who is pain and pleasure important for?

  The individual and society equally
• What is the hedomic calculus?


  A calculator that measures happiness/pain.
• What are the 7 factors that the hedonic calculus determines?


  • intensity
  • duration
  • certainty/uncertainty
  • closeness/remoteness
  • probability
  • purity
  • extent