Utilitarianism

• Normative ethics


  How human beings should behave and why
• Bentham's 3 components of Utilitarianism

  • Motivation
  • Principle of Utility
  • Hedonic Calculus
• Motivation


  Bentham's view on what drove humans
• Principle of Utility


  • Bentham's moral rule
  • We pursue the sole good: pleasure (Hedonism)
  • We avoid the sole bad: pain
• Hedonic Calculus


  Bentham's system for measuring the happiness/pleasure an action can create
• Act Utilitarianism


  The rightness of any action depends on the consequences of a specific act in a specific situation
• Components of Hedonic Calculus

  • Extent
  • Purity
  • Intensity
  • Certainty
  • Propinquity
  • Duration
  • Fecundity
• Utilitarianism


  The rightness of any action depends on the consequences of a specific situation
• Strengths of Act Utilitarianism

  • Simplistic
  • Humanistic
  • Yard stick
  • Cultural diversity
  • Hedonic calculus
  • Intuitively correct
• Weaknesses of Act Utilitarianism

  • Leads to injustice
  • End doesn't justify means
  • Naturalistic fallacy
  • Should we aim for happiness?
  • Can you measure pleasure?
  • Certainty of consequences
• Mill's Utilitarianism


  • Bentham's too simple
  • Right conditions required for happiness, not just right actions
  • Most important condition: Liberty!
• Mill vs Bentham on Human Rights

  Mills: Creates conditions for max. happiness

  Bentham: "nonsense upon stilts"
• Universalisability

  Happiness is unanimously desirable

  It's the only end

  Thus, everyone should aim for the happiness of everyone
• Proof of principle of utility: Laws/rules should only be about how we treat others
• Mills thought individuals had the right to do what they wanted as long as it did not cause harm to others
• Telos

  End/Final goal (teleological utilitarianism)
• "Nothing intrinsically more desirable about money than about any heap of glittering pebbles"
• Harm Principle

  Laws/rules should only be about how we treat others

  Mills thought individuals had the right to do what they wanted as long as it did not cause harm to others
• Higher pleasures

  Superior pleasures

  Only available to humans

  Pleasures of intellect/mind
• Rule utilitarianism

  Happiness is a state of mind resulting from applying a set of basic principles in society

  Mills is a weak rule utilitarian (Rules may be broken in extreme circumstances)
• Preference Utilitarianism

  Abandons hedonism as too uncertain

  Stresses individual's preference

  Considers preferences of sentient beings. Takes into account everyone's preference

  e.g. killing is wrong as it goes against the victim's preference

  Emphasis against speciesism

  Main goal is to reduce unnecessary pain