Utilitarianism

• What type of theory is it?

  ·        Teleological: it aims to bring about a greater good. It looks at what your ethical action is aimed at bringing about.

  ·        Consequentialist: it looks at the consequences of actions, not the actions themselves. An action is deemed ‘good’ if it brings about good consequences.

  ·        Relative: goodness of actions depends on the circumstances; no fixed moral principles.

  ·        Naturalist: the goodness of an action is defined in terms of natural properties i.e. pleasure, something that occurs naturally.  
• Bentham - Act Utilitarianism - 'An Introduction to the Principles of Morals..'

  • Hedonistic: good actions are those that bring the most pleasure and humans are motivated by the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.
  • Principle of utility: ‘An action is right if it produces the greatest pleasure for the greatest number.’
  • Hedonic Calculus: there are 7 criteria to be met for an action to be deemed good.
  • Goodness of an action is judged by the amount of pleasure brought by the outcomes.

  “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure."
• J.S Mill - Rule Utilitarianism - 'On Liberty'

  •   Higher and lower pleasures: better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
  • Acceptable for communities to establish fixed rules that benefit the majority. Rules must be followed even if they don’t bring pleasure to the individual.
  • “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
• Utilitarianism


  A consequentialist moral theory which favors acts that produces the greatest amount of happiness for

  the greatest amount of people. One of the 2 biggest ethical philosophies - opposite of Deontology (Kant)
• Act Utilitarianism


  Considers consequences of specific individual acts.
• Rule Utilitarianism


  Consequences of the act performs as general practice - "What if everyone did this?"
• Trolley Problem


  Choose what makes the most people happy - pull the switch to kill one person, not five
• Hedonism


  Classical theory of pursuing happiness - close to some utilitarian theories
• Utilitarianism precepts


  • Focuses on the sum of individual pleasures/pains (what matters is the cumulative happiness of a number of people).

  • Everyone counts equally

  • Has to define whose interests count - some

  include animals

  • Goodness or badness of an action is the

  function of it's consequences
• Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)


  Developed original theory of utilitarianism;

  Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, 1789 (morals should be the basis of law); democratic, progressive, empirical, optimistic; social policy should work for all;
• John Stewart Mill (1806-1873)

  Follower of Bentham; Utilitarianism - dispel misconception that morality has nothing to do with usefulness/utility and that morality is opposed to pleasure (ok with pleasure); supported personal liberty unless it harmed others; supported women's rights/right to vote.
• Empirical philosophy


  We know what is good by personal observation or experience.
• Principle of Utility (Greatest Happiness Principle)

  • Basic moral principle of Utilitarianism; actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.

  • Does not consider the nature or practices of the act nor the motive - consider the likely or actual consequences of each alternative (story about watching neighbor's house and it burns down).

  • Pleasure and happiness are the good to be produced.
• Instrumental Goods

  Things such as fame, fortune, education and freedom - good only to the extent that they produce happiness.
• Intrinsic Goods

  Happiness and pleasure - the only things good in themselves.
• Quantity vs. Quality of Pleasure

  Bentham & Mill agree that the more happiness the better - but Bentham consider only the quantity and Mill consider the quantity and the quality (for example, intellectual pleasures more valuable than purely sensual pleasures)
• Criticisms of Utilitarianism


  • Application of principles is too complex

  • Inductive like science, but can't

  consider/don't know all the variables

  • Cannot privilege our own happiness or the

  happiness of those we love over others - treating everyone equally lacks common sense - affront to our own personal integrity

  • Ends justify the means - so is it ok to kill someone for the sake of the good of a greater number (like population control) - leads to conclusions that are contrary to commonsense morality.

  **
• Inductive Reasoning


  Scientific, observe/test then propose a theory - can be disproved if new information found; never stated as positive fact.
• Deductive Reasoning


  make a statement then set out to prove it.
• Strengths

  • Not deontological, so do not end up with a conflict of duties; can decide which action is best and brings the best consequences.
  • able to consider the consequences of our actions, unlike with deontological ethics.
  • secular: could appeal to the non-religious as an ethical system; does not depend upon God for moral norms.
  • appeals to our inherent desire to pursue what is pleasurable in life.
  • The hedonic calculus tells us how we ought to act in any given situation: it provides a decision procedure.
• weaknesses

  • allows us to do evil so that good might come. - British police imprisoned innocent civilians during N.I Troubles
  • Arguably, we are not just motivated by the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain, many are motivated by other things e.g. spiritual truth
  • not always possible to predict the consequences of our actions. -depends on this
  • too impartial: not flexible
  • treats everything as a means to an end: contradicts Kant
  • Act Utilitarianism could subvert justice: could allow for the torture and imprisonment of the innocent if it serves a greater good.

   
• J. Bentham - *Utilitarianism*


  "The greatest happiness of the greatest number"

  Happiness is the intrinsic good and achieved through hedonic calculus
• E. Anscombe - *Intention*


  "Ethics is not about getting one's desires fulfilled, but about living a moral life that follows the right principles"

  Proponent for J.S Mill because this could link to his pig philosophy and his 'higher' and 'lower' pleasures
• M. Sandel - *Justice...*


  "Justice... is asking how we should live together"

  Bentham's hedonic calculus upholds the idea that we should live according to the intrinsic good of happiness, Mill believes that we should live up to the good of higher pleasures
• J.S Mill - *On Liberty*


  "The only freedom that deserves the name is that pursuing our own good in our own way"

  We have a duty, however still moral autonomy, to choose higher pleasures -better for us- over lower pleasures
• P. Singer - *Practical Ethics*


  "The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge"

  Love itself is situational- like preference utilitarianism. Aims to minimise suffering instead of maximising pleasure, like classical utilitarianism
• Bentham on his principle of utility:

  ‘’By the principle of utility, is meant that a principle approves or disapproves with every action whatsoever“
• Bentham on what is pleasurable: “the game of push-pin is of equal value with the arts and science of music and poetry

  • pleasures are of equal value
• Elements of Bentham’s hedonic calculus

  • Intensity
  • duration
  • certainty
  • remoteness (how soon will the outcome occur?)
  • Richness (how likely is it that the outcome will occur?)
  • Purity (how likely is it that pain will come from pleasure?
  • extent (how many people affected?)
• Mill on rule utilitarianism: “There is no case of moral obligation in which some secondary principle is not involved”
• Strong Rule utilitarianism: Any rule created by the principle of utility should not be broken as they were made to promote happiness
• Weak Rule utilitarianism: In extreme cases, any rule created by the principle of utility can be broken if a greater amount of happiness is achieved
• Strengths of act utilitarianism

  • Clear guidelines in hedonic calculus
  • Egalitarian - treats people equally
  • Same applies to all
  • Takes individual acts into account
  • Focuses on human well-being
  • Recognises moral responsibility and importance of consequence
• Cons of act utilitarianism

  • hedonic calculus is too complex - can’t get decisions quickly
  • some actions are unpredictable
  • one person’s pleasure is another’s pain
  • anything is permitted if it promotes happiness
• Mill’s definition of a COMPETENT JUDGE: someone who has achieved both higher and lower pleasures and when given the choice chooses higher pleasures
• Strengths of rule utilitarianism

  • same rules for all - fair
  • maximises happiness for society and not just one individual
  • addresses problem of justice (seen in Bentham’s act utilitarianism) - distinction between higher and lower pleasures
  • avoids time consuming calculations via hedonic calculus
• Cons of rule utilitarianism

  • elitist - higher pleasures favour intellectuals
  • Arguably authoritarian. - rejects our own actions and advises the individual to do as they’re told
  • Subjective - you can’t tell if a situation is extreme enough to apply weak rule utilitarianism
  • difficult to apply - hard to establish higher and lower pleasures
  • Strong utilitarianism isn’t based on pleasure - Hamilton argues that the utilitarian “should just admit that he or she cares about things other than happiness”
• Critical scholars

  • Williams - it’s non-religious, the basics of happiness are easy to understand and universally applicable
  • Epicurus - humans seek pleasure and avoid pain
  • Vardy - rule utilitarianism is attractive as it aims to solve the issue regarding the discount of minorities
  • Malcntyre / Rand - allows horrendous acts to be permitted because the majority want it
• Criticisms: pleasure can be bad

  • Act utilitarianism has a few weaknesses which caused John Stuart Mill to devise rule utilitarianism.
  • There are certain situations in which pleasure can actually be bad and pain can be a good thing.
  • The hedonic calculus can be used in a bad way to simply achieve what people want rather than looking at what is actually good for the majority.
• Criticism: family attachments

  • Bentham says we need to look past family attachments and this shouldn’t come into our decision process.
  • However, this is impossible as humans do have an obligation to their family and it would be very difficult to not take this into account when making a decision.