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Meta Ethics (delete Jeremy Bentham
Seek pleasure, avoid pain (2…
Meta Ethics
Jeremy Bentham
Seek pleasure, avoid pain
2 prepositions
Hedonism
True good brings about pleasure and happiness. Bentham believed that happiness was the feeling of pleasure.
Hedonic Calculus :scales: used to estimate how much happiness will be brought about by an action.
Purity : how free from pain- something is completely pure if it is 100% free from any pain.
Reaction: How long will it take for the happiness to take affect
Exponential: How likely is it to lead to other pleasures
Duration
Intentisty type of happiness (ie eating a chocolate bar is mild)
Certainity/ checkbox: How certain are you that it will bring about the most happiness.
Total How many people will it affect
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Teleological: Looking at the result of an action to determine whether it is right/ wrong. BUT this is difficult to approximate, this could lead to people unknowingly performs bad actions, or excuse themselves by saying 'I didn't know that murder would lead to a bad outcome' until it actually happens.
CONTEXT Late 18th century...
- advancements in science meant that more people looked to science for answers (empirical measurements).
- His ideas led to social reform, including changes in Parliament, judicial law, savings banks, cheap postage, the judiciary system
- Increase in secularisation; more people abandoned organised religion and recognised society as a whole, rather than divided, community (hence utilitarianism --> most people)
Ethical naturalism: Morality is based on observation of the world and human experices, we can abserve what brings humans pleasure or pain.
An Act utalittarian, as every act you do must be put through the hedonic calculus.
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Propinquity: How close is something to happen.
Principil of fecundity: How likely is it to set about more good.
Teleological: considers the consquences of actions, and achiving end goal of happpiness.
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ethical naturalism
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Strengths
Easier to follow and makes more sense as all ethical properties can be reduced to qualities like love and happiness which are grounded in nature and understood by humans. This means that ethical prepositions are factual, and therefore true.
Furthermore, ethical naturalism's solid rules and mesurable nature makes it easier to follow and adhere to. When we do something wrong, we reciev direct judgment by our peers, where a follower of DCM might not immedatb=ley know of God is pleased or upset with their actions.
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nature is universal so morals can be undertsood universally. Additionally, everyonw can experience it.
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Weaknesses
The is/Ought probelmThe naturalistic fallacy G.E.Moore "naturalisc fallacy", mistake to define good in nature, cannot jump from an obesrvation ti a moral statemnt in life -logicva;;y invalid. for inatce saying that Enid is old and lonley, therefore we ought to ethinase her.
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AJ Ayer "statements that can't be verfies or falsifies are meaningless." can't talk about God in any meanigful way. statemnets aboyt God can never me meanigful. 'murder is worng' can bnever be verfied or faslidfes
something like muder is objective, tribe of north sentinel isaldn
Ethica; non-naturalism: Our source and sense of morality is derived from outside the natural world, and is beyond empirical tests.
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Intuitionism
(non naturalism, becyase you can;'t define it any smaller, can't look t nature of world to see source of goodness, goodness cannot be proved empirically.
duties/ responsibilities. Good can't mean anuthing else than what it is, it cant be reakted to naything inside this world like naturalist therios try to do (ie Bentham says goodness is pleasure). They are not to be discovered, but are found intrsiniclly within us.
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Evaluation
Strengths
Moral values are objective, menaing that the same moral vlaues can be realised by everyone. It is neither a subjective nor emotive approuch.
easy fo us to follow we may feel that an action is wrong but not know why it is wrong. As emotive beings, it is easier for us to diceren wether an action is good hrough our moral senses, rather than through a list of moral defenitions.
Weaknesses
Too similar/ has decended into ethical non-cognitivism/ A.J Ayer's emotivism (both claim that ethics has nothing to do with facts/resons, ut on our emotions)
Neo-natiuralists rejet the idea of the naturlist fallacy, in that vrtues fill a gap.
Do all humans have intrunsic inutionism? If we all have it, why do we intuit things differently.
morality can be factual, but source of of marilty is within the humans.
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Use examples to illustrate, not explain.
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utalistaiism, abusing 1 child might please group of pedophiles but doffernt to intutiaism)