Overview of Utilitarianism

Overview of Utilitarianism

1. Jeremy Bentham

   • "father of Utilitarianism"
   • An English philosopher and social reformist who originally came up with the moral principle of utilitarianism
   • ‘the principles of morals and legislation’
   • He believed that humans are motivated by pleasure and pain
     • 'Hedonist'

2. John Stuart Mill

   • (1806 - 73)
   • considered to be one of the greatest philosophers of the 19th century
   • Jeremy Bethams Godson
   • he believed Quality is more important than quantity
   • pleasures of the mind
     • reading
     • Appreciation of art
     • Music
   • pleasures of the body
     • hunger
     • gratification
     • sleeping

3. Act Utilitarianism

   • Definition
     • Act Utilitarianism: a version of Utilitarianism according to which the rightness of wrongness of individual acts are calculated by the amount of happiness resulting from these acts
   • The principle of utility must be applied in each individual situation
   • It is the value of the consequences that count
   • Is a lot more flexible than other types of Utilitarianism
   • However it has the potential to justify anything and any situation
   • Its very impractical and time consuming to have to measure every single moral choice

4. Rule Utilitarianism

   • "focuses on general rules that everyone should follow to bring about the greatest good for that community"
     • Rule Utilitarianism: a version of utilitarianism in which general rules are assessed for the happiness-making properties rather than individual decisions
   • deontological
   • mainly follows laws and has set rules and codes that everyone must stick to no matter what the situation is
   • John Stuart Mill
   • John Austin (1790-1859)

5. Hedonic calculus

   • "weighs up the pain and pleasure generated by the available moral actions to find the best options"
   • There are seven factors
     • The hedonic calculus
   • The hedonic calculus weighs things up by how much pleasure or pain is calculated.
   • Bentham considers how strong the pain or pleasure is, how long it will last and the number of people it affects
   • The action that leads to the ‘best consequence’ by using this measure is the morally correct one

6. Definition

   • noun: utilitarianism - the doctrine that actions are right if they are useful or for the benefit of a majority

7. Preference Utilitarianism

   • preference utilitarianism: a utilitarian theory interested in the best consequences for those involved rather than what creates the most pleasure and least pain
   • peter singer (1946-)

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