define principle of utility
judging the morality of actions by their usefulness in producing benefit and wellbeing
describe Bentham’s utilitarianism?
- hedonistic act utilitarianism
- most moral decision causes GREATEST GOOD for GREATEST NUMBER on case by case basis
- calculated with hedonic calculus
Hedonic Calculus
system for calculating pleasure/pain caused by action — PRRICED
Purity
Remoteness
Richness
Intensity
Certainty
Extent
Duration
define hedonism
principle of pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain
5 strengths of Bentham’s utilitarianism
— treats everyone EQUALLY 🟰
— theoretically leads to POSITIVE OUTCOMES 😁
— simple + straightforward ➡️
— can be applied to different societies; is RELATIVE 🌍. FLEXIBLE
— empirical and PRAGMATIC: based on what the world is currently, not what it should be
weaknesses of Bentham’s utilitarianism
— TYRANNY 👿 OF MAJORITY (doesn’t consider individual liberty/rights)
— problems with CALCULATION ✖️➗➕➖ (subjectivity) (predicting consequences)
— issues around PARTIALITY 😣
— ignores INTENTION 🧐
— NOZICK
how would Bentham respond to the issue of individual rights and liberty?
Human rights are an unnecessary human construct
How might utilitarians respond to the issue of partiality
partiality is ideal, if everyone treats everyone equally and impartially society will be a better place
How might utilitarians respond to the issue of ignoring intention?
Intention is essentially useless; consequences are what matter
describe John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism
- hedonistic rule utilitarianism
- certain rules generally create more pleasure and less pain, these rules should ALWAYS be followed universally regardless of the individual situation
- HARM PRINCIPLE: always pursue own happiness unless it infringes on others’ ability to pursue happiness
- INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY: people being free to do unconventional things prevents dead dogmas, challenging and refreshing societal rules and status quo
- higher and lower pleasures
higher pleasures according to Mill
unique to humans, either:
— requiring intellectual complexity
— engages aesthetic imagination
— engages moral sentiment
e.g. writing a book, donating to a life-saving charity, appreciating art 🖼
lower pleasures according to Mill
immediate pleasures we desire like animals, instinctively (eating good chocolate 🍫 , enjoying good sex)
4 strengths of Mill’s utilitarianism
— treats people EQUALLY 🟰
— theoretically leads to POSITIVE OUTCOMES 😁
— solves tyranny of majority
— allows for different forms/qualities of pleasure
7 weaknesses of Mill’s utilitarianism
— problems with CALCULATION ➗✖️➖➕ (subjectivity, predicting consequences, what beings to include)
— issues with PARTIALITY
— ignores INTENTION 🧐
— higher and lower distinction may be SNOBBY and unnecessary
— who decides the RULES?
— rulesl might clash 💥
— NOZICK
how might Mill respond to the issue that rules may clash?
the rule that is “trumped” by another more important rule can be broken
outline Nozick’s argument against hedonism (5)
- if experiencing as much pleasure as possible is all that matters, we should always do what gives most pleasure
- plugging into the experience machine gives us the most pleasure
- if all that matters to us is experiencing the most pleasure, we have no reason not to plug into machine
- we have reason not to plug into the machine
- so, experiencing the most pleasure isn’t all that matters to us: we aren’t truly (or simply) hedonists
describe Singer’s 🧑🎤 utilitarianism
- preference act utilitarianism
- “an action contrary to the preference of any being is, unless the preference is outweighed by contrary preferences, wrong”
- concerned with preference (not pleasure) of all conscious beings
(those who experience pain/pleasure and can anticipate future) - must take pov of impartial spectator
5 strengths of Singer’s 🧑🎤 preference utilitarianism
— SOLVES NOZICK’s thought experiment
— considers INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS and liberty
— treats all equally 🟰 (animal rights) 🐄 🐷
— theoretically creates POSITIVE OUTCOMES 😁
— simple and straightforward ➡️
5 weaknesses of Singer’s 🧑🎤 preference utilitarianism
— values animal’s preferences equally to humans??
— doesn’t value non-conscious beings (babies, coma etc) 👶
— prioritises preference over other things (intention, virtue, value of life etc)
— issues with partiality
— certain preferences are antisocial and irrational and we shouldn’t indulge: what should we count?
how might Bentham respond to Nozick?
Do it. Plug into the machine why not
utilitarianism essay
hedonistic utilitarianism is fundamentally flawed and fails as a moral theory, but problems can be solved with Singer’s preference util!
- Bentham: tyranny of the majority
BUT it’s not an issue as the most happiness will always be generated if calculated properly
BUT it seems deeply immoral and callous. Also to argue this would be to argue against many human rights but the majority of society would argue that human rights should be respected - Mill: solves this! Rule utilitarianism and Harm Principle, so better than Bentham
BUT issues with rules: overlapping/contradictory rules?
BUT they’re not categorical, we should pick the most important one
BUT who has the authority of deciding the rules? how do we pick the rules? Morality too subjective for this, moral anti realist would argue rules are impossible
Mill attempts to solve issue of individual rights for Bentham but his solution presents us with new complications so also fails - issue with both Bentham and Mill: pleasure is not everything!! Nozick’s Pleasure machine
Singer preference util solves this AND considers animal rights AND individual rights and liberty
