Overview of Utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham
1. "father of Utilitarianism"
2. An English philosopher and social reformist who originally came up with the moral principle of utilitarianism
3. ‘the principles of morals and legislation’
5. He believed that humans are motivated by pleasure and pain
  1. 'Hedonist'
John Stuart Mill
1. (1806 - 73)
2. considered to be one of the greatest philosophers of the 19th century
3. Jeremy Bethams Godson
4. he believed Quality is more important than quantity
5. pleasures of the mind
  1. reading
  2. Appreciation of art
  3. Music
6. pleasures of the body
  1. hunger
  2. gratification
  3. sleeping
Act Utilitarianism
1. Definition
  1. 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
2. The principle of utility must be applied in each individual situation
3. It is the value of the consequences that count
4. Is a lot more flexible than other types of Utilitarianism
5. However it has the potential to justify anything and any situation
6. Its very impractical and time consuming to have to measure every single moral choice
Rule Utilitarianism
1. "focuses on general rules that everyone should follow to bring about the greatest good for that community"
  1. Rule Utilitarianism: a version of utilitarianism in which general rules are assessed for the happiness-making properties rather than individual decisions
2. deontological
3. mainly follows laws and has set rules and codes that everyone must stick to no matter what the situation is
4. John Stuart Mill
5. John Austin (1790-1859)
Hedonic calculus
1. "weighs up the pain and pleasure generated by the available moral actions to find the best options"
2. There are seven factors
  Attachments:
  - The hedonic calculus
3. The hedonic calculus weighs things up by how much pleasure or pain is calculated.
4. Bentham considers how strong the pain or pleasure is, how long it will last and the number of people it affects
5. The action that leads to the ‘best consequence’ by using this measure is the morally correct one
Definition
1. noun: utilitarianism - the doctrine that actions are right if they are useful or for the benefit of a majority
Preference Utilitarianism
1. preference utilitarianism: a utilitarian theory interested in the best consequences for those involved rather than what creates the most pleasure and least pain
2. peter singer (1946-)

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