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UTILITARIANISM (OBJECTIONS (permits harm- immoral???, Absence of rights.,…
UTILITARIANISM
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RULE
MILL
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STRENGTHS
RATIONALITY & PRACTICALITY: Util ethics rests on rational cal of no's of people whose pleasure or pain is maximised . Clarity & simplicity to this.
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WEAKNESSES
MOTIVE: Anscombe- Bentham & Mill cannot agree how to define pleasure 'don't notice the difficulty of the concept of 'pleasure'. Why should I maximise pleasure or pain???
DISTRIBUTION PROBS: when maximising total not average happiness, e.g. low tax for rich may raise the total but reduce average happiness the super rich are much happier.
Consequences- hard to calc if you don't have omniscience of God. Iraq war may have been justified w/ Greatest Happiness Principle but...
HAPPINESS: def of happy life- pleasure & absence of pain, autonomy & activity.
HIGHER & LOWER PLEASURES: Lower bodily pleasures, e.g. food, sex etc are of less value than higher pleasures, e.g. reading, thinking etc.
'It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied'.
JUSTICE
Bernard Williams: util violates our moral integrity by encouraging us to do things we would find repulsive - like his examples of Jim whose invited to kill 1 indian to save 19 others. Prob of injustice.
Mill: unhappiness is caused by selfishness , people 'acting only for themselves', for that person to be happy they need 'to cultivate a fellow feeling with the collective interests of mankind'.
Rights, justice & virtue of sympathy stop selfish-interest destroying happiness of others.
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WEAK RULE UTIL: teleological theory based on def of goodness as the balance of happiness over misery. Argues that happiness is most likely maximised by following a set of rules which society has found, by experience, maximise utility. BUT rules can develop & in cases - moral dilemma, we should revert to being Act utils- so weak RU.
DISLIKES BENTHAM
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Emphasis on pleasure alone, as B was influenced by Aristotle's views on virtue.
The problem of justice & rights-how do we prevent 1 innocent person or group being sacrificed for the general happiness of the majority.
ACT
BENTHAM
HEDONIC CALCULUS: measuring pleasure & pain so consequences of an act can be assessed as a score in units of happiness called HEDONS.
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QUANTITATIVE PLEASURE
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Pleasure is quantitative so we can't award more hedons to listening to Mozart etc. Mill objected this-qualitative. Bentham- we can compare a child's delight w/ a new toy w/ someone else's delight in a new gf. A pig enjoying a good wallow is of more value than Socrates having a slight sad think- 'pig philosophy'.
PLEASURE MACHINES
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ALDOUS HUXLEY: wrote of a brave new world where people popped soma tablets to make them happy. Bentham- no problem w/ this but Mill saw happiness as a wider activity involving activity, & realistic goals & expectations. 41 million antidepressant prescriptions last yr in UK.
STRENGTHS
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Designed a more humane prison- PANOPTICON, built in Barcelona.
WEAKNESSES
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He equates pleasure w/ happiness but their not equivalent, e.g. athlete's hardworking training might not be pleasure but it doesn't mean a lack of contentment w/ training.
Pleasure isn't measurable, because its personal & you can't compare to others...
MOTIVATION: 1 moral good-pleasure & 1 evil- pain.
Right actions are on balance pleasurable, wrong actions are on balance painful. Theory of PSYCHOLOGICAL HEDONISM- pleasure seeking.
'Nature has placed mankind under two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure'.
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