UTILITARIANISM

UTILITARIANISM

1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

   • Principle Of Utility
     • 'Greatest happiness for the greatest number'
       • Happiness: pleasure + absence of pain
       • Unhappiness: pain + absence of pleasure
     • Objective
     • Motivated by pursuit of pleasure
   • Teleological Theory of Ethics
     • Actions judged on consequences
       • Good or bad
       • Increase or decrease level of happiness
     • Consequences > Motives
   • Bentham + Mill
     • Theory of Utilitarianism
     • 18th + 19th centuries
       • Enlightenment
     • Social Reformers
       • Change the legal system
     • Philosophical Radicals
       • Happiness divided equally
     • Secular
       • Opposed tradition religious beliefs
     • Democrats
       • Rightness + wrongness of an act should be decided by how it affects the majority
     • Reason
       • Basis of morality
     • Welfare of individual
       • Highest value

2. Jeremy Bentham

   • 18th Century
     • Enlightenment
   • Atheist
     • Rejects authority of Bible
   • Book- Principles Of Morals and Legislation (1789)
   • Morality should maximise pleasure + minimise pain
   • Hedonism
     • Hedone- pleasuree (Greek)
     • Hedonistic Utilitarianism
       • Pleasures
         • Instrinsically good
         • Equal value
           • Matter of taste
   • Hedonic Calculus
     • Means of measuring pleaure
       • Intensity
       • Duration
       • Certainty/Uncertainty
       • Propinquity/Remoteness
       • Fecundity
       • Purity
       • Extent
     • Choose action by calculating the probable consequences
       • Which leads to greater pleasure
         • e.g. sick grandma or party
     • Rational + scientific solution to morality
       • Objective way of deciding right + wrong
   • Act Utilitarianism
     • We must do what will create happiness
       • Certain principles can be useful
         • e.g. helping other- good- increases happiness
     • No fixed rules
     • Values individual + the act

3. JOHN STUART MILL

   • 18th Century
     • Enlightenment
   • Teleogical theory of ethics
   • Doesn't see actions as right or wrong
     • Motives are irrelevant
   • Bentham- limited view of human experience
     • People aren't rational
     • Bentham focuses on individuals
       • Mill focuses on society
     • Act Utilitarianism
       • Justifies persecution of minorities by the majority
         • e.g. Nazis + jews, gang rape
       • Mill rejects hedonic calculus + condemned hedonism
         • 'a doctrine worthy only of swine'
           • leads to crude pursuit of pleasure
   • Happiness must include dignity
     • 'it is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied, better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied'
   • Pleasures
     • Quality not quantity
     • 'Some kinds of pleasures are more desirable and valuable than others'
     • Higher pleasures of the mind
       • Virtue, love, art + knowledge
       • Good as ends in themselves
     • Lower pleasures of the body
       • Physical pleasures
   • Rule Utilitarianism
     • Set of practical moral rules
       • Can be applied in all circumstances
     • Rules against harming others

4. Utilitarianism, Sex + Relationships

   • Important elements of human happiness
     • Contribute to overall happiness of society
       • Positives- maximised
         • Negative- minimised
           • Pain
         • Pleasure
   • Secular
     • Ignores religious teachings
       • e.g. homosexuality or adultery
         • Should use our reason to make ethical decisions
   • Egalitarians + Libertarians
     • Equality
       • Emphasises freedom + tolerance
         • Tries to overcome prejudice + discrimination
           • Individual freedom of choice- basic right
             • Bentham + Mill
               • Consent is required
   • Bentham
     • Hedonic Calculus
       • All pleasure are equal
         • Long term relationships or promiscuity without love
           • Matter of personal taste
             • Make decisions according to the situation
               • No fixed rules
                 • Marriage
                   • Social Construction
                     • Oppressive
                   • Good if it makes people happy
                   • Not sacred
                 • Love not necessary for sex to be moral
                 • Adultery
                   • Causes unhappiness + harmful to society
                   • Not wrong if all parties agreed
     • Accepts commercialisation of sex- if led to greater happiness
       • Pornography + prostitution
         • However- evidence pornography is harmful
           • Reject prostitution- no consent
             • e.g. sex trafficing
     • Tolerant of Sexual Diversity
       • e.g. homosexuality
         • No act is wrong in itself
           • Bestiality might be considered acceptable if consequences are good
   • Mill
     • Rejects hedonic calculus
       • Leads to crude hedonism
         • e.g. promiscuity
         • Lead to persecution of minorities by the majority
           • Uses rule utilitarianism
             • Creates rules about sex + relationships
               • Based on principle of utility
               • People need guidance
               • Society needs rules
               • Rules about consent + not harming others
     • Quality of pleasures > Quantity
       • Higher + lower pleasures
         • Happiness- includes dignity + love
           • Not physical pleasures
             • Sex requires love to be a higher pleasure
               • Rather than being degrading
                 • 'Harm Principle'
                   • People should be free to act as they wish
                     • No one can be harmed
                       • May criticise commercialisation of sex
                         • Critical of degrading sexual practices
                           • Happiness includes dignity