Rule Utility

• 'It is better to be a human dissatisfied [looking for higher pleasures] than a pig satisfied'
• Higher vs. Lower pleasures

  Higher pleasures and pleasures of the mind eg. reading or sodoku

  Lower pleasures are pleasures of the body eg. eating or sex

  Lower pleasures are more pleasant but less valuable.
• Definition

  The rightness or wrongness of an action is calculated not merely by the quantity, but by the quality of pleasure from that action
• Reasons he wanted to develop utility

  Calculus was too in-depth and complicated.

  Disagreed w/ the fact that all pleasures were equal

  He wanted more consistency

  He wanted to protect the minority
• Swine Philosophy

  Mill saw Bentham's utilitarianism as animalistic

  'It is better to seek higher pleasures than to be happy in an ignorant bliss. Lower pleasures are shared with animals so opting for lower pleasures is due to ignorance.'
• Strong vs. Weak Rules

  Strong rules can never be broken eg. Do not rape

  Weak rules can be broken in exceptional circumstances if greater happiness can be achieved
• J.S.Mill

  Benthams Godson

  Spoke Greek and Latin by the age of 3

  Highly pressured by his parents

  Had a mental breakdown, poetry saved him and he developed rule utility
• Competent Judges

  A competent judge is someone who has experienced the higher and lower pleasures.

  Their role is to help define the amount of pain and pleasure the action causes as they have experience of both.
• Mills Principle of Utility

  1. Happiness is desirable
  2. Happiness is the only thing intrinsically desirable
  3. Greatest happiness of all is desirable

  Link to Jesus' Golden Rule which helped him attract an Xian audience.
• Philosophical critics

  W.D.Ross

  'a single factor' they don't account for complex lives and moral decisions. Family takes precedence over reason eg. Trolley Problem.

  Henry Sedgwick

  How can we distinguish between higher and lower pleasures? Food is a lower pleasure but what about reading a book about food or a book about sex?
• Weaknesses

  Subjectivity between higher and lower pleasures

  Who decides the rules?

  The competent judges are elitist

  Strong rules are too inflexible

  Weak rules are too subjective
• Strengths

  Mills harm principle protects the minority

  No cumbersome calculus

  Rules provide consistency

  More specific 'goodness' vs. pleasure

  Promotes quality rather than quantity

  No two pleasures are equal
• Bentham vs. Mill

  Bentham: Act Utilitarian

  Looks at the consequences of each act

  Every circumstance must be looked at differently

  Apply hedonistic calc. to every situation

  Strong Utilitarian

  Pleasure in Ethics

  Mill: Rule Utilitarian

  General rules that can be applied to promote happiness universally

  Balance of good>evil, pleasure>pain

  Rules shouldn't be broken as they are the basis of morality

  Weak rule utilitarian, rules can be broken in extreme circumstances

  Murder as self defense

  Happiness in Ethics
• The golden rule

  Mill linked Utilitarianism to the golden rule

  'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'.
• Xian Comparison

  Follows rules and absolute laws, like exodus' 10 commandments

  Based on the general good of others.
• Harm Principle

  The harm principle says people should be free to act however they wish unless their actions cause harm to somebody else. The principle is a central tenet of the political philosophy known as liberalism