What is the ethical characterization of utilitarianism?
Teleological, relativist and consequentialist.
What is act utilitarianism?
The rightness of an action is based upon the act itself and its consequences in a given situation.
What did Jeremy Bentham argue?
Pleasure and happiness are the sole goods and pain is the sole bad. The rightness of an action depends upon how much pleasure it creates, he was a hedonist.
What is the principle of utility?
An action should be performed only if it brings about the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
What are the seven criteria of the hedonic calculus?
- Purity. 2. Remoteness. 3. Richness. 4. Intensity. 5. Certainty. 6. Extent. 7. Duration
What is the purpose of the hedonic calculus?
To work out which action is the right one to take by measuring up the amounts of pleasure and pain created by it.
Give three strengths of act utilitarianism
- It is intuitive, we naturally consider what we want to be good. 2. It gives clear answers to some moral problems. 3. It takes into account the consequences of an action.
Give three more strengths of act utilitarianism
- It puts us in a position to take circumstances into account. 2. It is secular and can be used by all. 3. It allows for different societies having different moral codes.
What are three problems with the hedonic calculus?
- It does not consider the quality of pleasures and pains. 2. It is very impractical and hard to use. 3. Is pleasure really something we can measure?
Give three major weaknesses of act utilitarianism
- It asks us to look beyond family/relationships, but in practice this is hard to do. 2. It is impossible to consider all the consequences of an action as we can’t see the future. 3. It can be used to condone immoral actions such as gang rape- the pleasure of the rapists would outweigh the pain of the victim.
Give a farther weakness of act utilitarianism
- Making decisions based on the principle of utility could lead to a denial of individual rights and a tyranny of the majority.
In what two ways did Mill adapt Bentham’s utilitarianism?
- He assessed pleasure in a qualitative, not quantitive way. 2. He introduced a framework of moral rules.
What are higher and lower pleasures?
Higher pleasures are pleasures of the mind such as reading, lower pleasures are less desirable pleasures of the flesh such as eating.
How did Mill suggest we could distinguish between the types of pleasures?
Look to competent judges who have experienced both types of pleasure.
What is the role of the moral framework in rule utilitarianism?
It provides a behavioral code whose rules will have favorable consequences if followed. To be adopted, the positive consequences of following a rule must outweigh its negatives.
What are three positives of rule utilitarianism?
- It avoids justifying immoral actions by putting in place a framework of moral rules and qualifying goods. 2. It respects liberty with its emphasis on the harm principle, that people are free to do as they please so long as they don’t harm others. 3. It avoids the complex hedonic calculus and puts in place flexible rules which can be adapted.
Give two weaknesses of rule utilitarianism
- Higher and lower pleasures are hard to define and separate. 2. Who is a competent judge? The idea that they can only be the educated makes the theory elitist.
What two other issues are there with rule utilitarianism?
- What happens if I break a rule because breaking it has more utility then following it? If there can be exceptions to rules, are the y really rules at all? 2. Consequentialism contradicts with the idea of following rules, if we end up following rules for rules’ sake then rule utilitarianism isn’t really utilitarianism.
What is the experience machine?
Proposed by Robert nozick, this is a thought experiment to show that there are other values that matter to our well-being, not just happiness and pleasure. Nozick proposes a machine which can give you any pleasurable experience you want, do you plug in?
What three reasons does Nozick give for not plugging into the experience machine?
- It limits us to a man made reality. 2. We want to be a person, not a blob in a tank. 3. We want to actually do things, not just have experiences of doing them.
Why does Singer oppose hedonistic utilitarianism?
It doesn’t take into account the different views on what pleasure is and fails to regard different people’s preferences.
What is preference utilitarianism?
An action is good if it fulfills the maximum number of people’s preferences, as opposed to how much pleasure it creates. It is all about individual rights and best interests.
Give four strengths of preference utilitarianism
- It doesn’t try to calculate pleasure, instead it asks people what they prefer. 2. It avoids the need to give up one’s preferences for the sake of the majority. 3. It allows people to speak up and defend their rights. 4. It acknowledges that situations and preferences change.
What are three problems with preference utilitarianism?
- If a community had a preference for cruelty, this would technically be permitted. 2. We cannot predict the consequences of our actions. 3. What about someone (baby, coma patient) not in a position to voice their preferences?
