Utilitarianism

• Instrumental & Intrinsic Value

  
  

  Instrumental value: Valuable as a means to an end

  Intrinsic: Valuable in and of itself or valued for its own sake
• Consequentialism

  The consequences of an action determine the rightness or wrongness of an action
• Deontology

  The action in itself or the intentions of an action determine its rightness or wrongness
• Utilitarianism

  The highest principle of morality is to maximise utility and minimise disutility, utility usually refers to please/happiness and disutility usually refers to pain/suffering
• Utility Principle

  maximise greatest good for the greatest number
• Hedonism

  pleasure is the only intrinsic good and pain is the only intrinsic bad
• Act Utilitarianism


  for every new decision a person makes, they ought to maximise the utility that will occur from that particular action
• Benthams Utility Calculus


  Bentham Cared about the quantity of utility and came up with a calculation to quantify utility, adding up seven factors

  • intensity
  • duration
  • certainty
  • remoteness
  • fecundity
  • purity
  • extent
• Argument for utilitarianism

  Everything we care about usually leads to pleasure from relief from pain or suffering, moral theories ought to concern themselves with this ultimate value of goodness
• Objections to utilitarianism

  • the experience machine
  • the colosseum
  • non-hedonistic goods
  • tyranny of the majority
• Strengths of act utilitarianism

  • clear instructions on carrying out the right actions
  • Intuitive
  • Egalitarian (equal treatment) theory
• Limitations of Act Utilitarianism

  • Counterintuitive
  • Too flexible, can be used to justify non-hedonistic (sadistic) goods
  • unequal in the sense that people who produce more happiness 'count' more
• Mill's Rule Utilitarianism

  Mill feels that Benthams justification for utilitarianism is unconvincing

  • Act Utilitarianism is counterintuitive and he tries to ground utilitarianism in firmer philosophical ground by trying to prove that utilitarianism is true
• Mills Proof

  • the only evidence that something is desirable is that it is actually desired
  • each person desires their own happiness
  • each persons happiness is good to that person
  • the general happiness is good to the aggregate of all persons
  • happiness is the only good
• GE Moores criticism of Mill's Proof

  • fails to distinguish what is actually desired vs what ought to be desired
  • ie what is actually desired could be non-hedonistic when really a utilitarianism should be acting in line with what ought to be desired
• Strong Rule Utilitarianism

  A strong rule utilitarian would never break rules that they consider important for maximising the principle of utility
• Weak Rule Utilitarian

  A weak rule utilitarian would argue that in some cases, it would be better to break the rules if it prevents a greater harm than following them
• Problems with strong rule utilitarianism

  Utilitarianism is supposed to be a simple, intuitive theory. Strong rule utilitarianism can needlessly complicate act utilitarianism
• Problems with weak rule utilitarianism

  Rule utilitarianism collapses into act utilitarianism at this point, it can be argued that a weak utilitarian is just an act utilitarian
• Arguments for Strong Rule Utilitarianism

  Rules aren't made to be broken, the consequences of rules have been thought through and are therefore better at securing the best outcome instead of individual judgment.

  If weak-rule utilitarianism collapses into act utilitarianism then it incurs all problems act utilitarianism had (eg counterintuitive recommendations)
• Arguments for Weak-Rule Utilitarianism

  Strong-rule utilitarianism doesn't cover enough bases, one cannot think of enough rules for every possible scenario to maximize utility

  Whenever rules clash or it becomes counterintuitive just go back to principle of utility to see what will maximise utility (mills objection)
• Qualitative Hedonism

  Mill wants to distinguish different types of pleasure

  lower pleasers = rather basic

  higher pleasures = complex and worthwhile
• Problems with qualitative hedonism

  • Cultural differences regarding higher and lower pleasures, snobbery
  • Utilitarianism was supposed to be simple and adding even more rules complicates things needlessly
  • Mill often selected higher pleasures he personally found more valuable such as indulging in philosophical works and learning new knowledge
• Mill on preferring higher pleasures

  Mill argues that the proof that higher pleasures are superior to lower pleasures are those who have experienced both prefer higher pleasures

  "few human creatures would consent to be changed into one of the lower animals, for a promise of the fullest allowance of a beasts highest pleasures"
• Objection to Higher/Lower Pleasures

  Bentham and Mill both claimed to be hedonists. Mill surely cannot be a hedonist given his distinction with higher lower pleasures
• The Experience Machine

  You are plugged into a VR machine that simulates the experience of a perfect life, the machine maximizes your happiness and minimizes your pain. Once plugged in you dont know you're in VR and believe your life is completely real.

  Despite this, many would prefer not to enter.

  According to act utilitarianism, everyone should enter the machine, however, it seems morally wrong to ignore a person's preferences. There are things in life more important than pleasure/pain but act utilitarianism ignores our preferences for these things.
• Tyranny of the Majority

  Challenges act utilitarianism.

  Serial killer example, angry mob, police choose an innocent from the mob to frame to calm the mob. Collective happiness is likely to outweigh the man's pain of being falsely imprisoned, hence the tyranny of the majority.

  In this scenario, an act utilitarian would say its morally right to imprison the innocent man and in fact it would be morally wrong not to.
• Difficult to calculate

  Challenges act utilitarianism

  Can't predict the future, hard to quantify Bentham seven variables, hard to compare the variables also.
• Teleological

  • end goal to achieve / working towards a purpose
  • similar to consequentialism
  • utilitarianism is a teleological ethical theory
• Mill's Proof

  A philosophical argument made by John Stuart Mill that claims to prove the principle of utility, which states that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by its contribution to overall happiness.
• GE Moore's criticism

  Focuses on Mill's failure to distinguish between what is actually desired and what ought to be desired, arguing that these two concepts are distinct and that it is possible for what is actually desired to be non-hedonistic.
• What is actually desired


  Refers to the things that people actually want or value, regardless of whether they contribute to overall happiness or not.
• What ought to be desired


  Refers to the things that people should value or pursue according to moral principles, such as the greatest amount of overall happiness for everyone.