Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Utilitarianism is the ethical theory that advocates we must choose the…
Utilitarianism is the ethical theory that advocates we must choose the action that provides the most amount of happiness for the most amount of people. It was developed in the 18th century, and is a teleological theory that focuses on consequences.
Jeremy Bentham was the first classical utilitarian who believed that we should seek the greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest amount of people.
-Bentham based his theory on the concept of 'utility' which was an idea of usefulness. It said we should do whatever actions in order to increase the overall good and decrease the overall evil. He said governments should follow this.
-He suggested that pleasure and pain are our masters. Humans instinctively seek pleasure and avoid pain
-He argued that pleasure was the sole good- it was the only thing that is good in itself.
-all humans desire it and that is why it is the sole good.
Bentham said that all pleasures are equal; he contradicted this principle, as he created away to measure pleasure and pain through his hedonic calculus, which measure it in the course of an action. This consisted of seven factors, e.g. purity, duration etc. The hedonic calculus was impractical as it required prediction of future consequences
Rule Utilitarianism it that idea that we are responsible fir producing the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest n umber, if the rule or action we were to do was universalised.
Weak Rule makes exceptions in serious scenarios. It argues that since happiness is the sole good, it would be illogical to follow something that contradicts this.
-
Life-threatening cases rarely happen, so seems fairly pointless.
Strong rule never permit breaking rules, even in life and death scenarios.
Strong rule is easy to follow in practice, and there is less pressure on the induvial to make the right action. It allows moral standards to be shared across the whole of society..
-
Act Utilitarianism is the action that is morally required to produce the greatest good for the greatest number in any individual situation.
Bentham's approach is often see as conforming to this version, e.g. his hedonic calculus is about individual circumstances,
Follow 'rules-of-thumb' as a guide to which actions are most likely to produce the most amount of happiness.
There are practical guidelines for every situation, the individual always has priority over the rule
-
John Stuart Mill was the second classical utilitarian, who disagreed with the fundamentals of Bentham's theory. He thought it was flawed, but agreed on the basic and central ideas of his utilitarianism.
He criticised Bentham for: indulging in 'pig philosophy', as he said that all pleasure were equal. His focus on pleasure was far too narrow
-
It can lead to appalling consequences for individual, Bentham could be seen as justifying gang rape etc,.- it leads to the 'tyranny of the majority'
Mill created the Harm Principle which said people should be allowed to act freely, as long as their actions do not come to any serious or threatening consequences for anyone.
-
-
Peter Singer argued we should judges situations on how far people's preferences or desires conform to the given situation.
He said that the 'best possible consequences' are achieved by following preferences of the greatest number of people.
Singer said we should use an 'impartial spectator' to provide a equal judgment of who will be affected by the decision.
-
-
-Preferences Utilitarianism seeks to provide the best possible 'interests' of each person.
-Grants greater autonomy over your life and respects people's decisions
-prevents people interfering with individual freedom.
-means you avoid unwanted situations
However preferences utilitarianism focuses more on minimising suffering rather than increasing pleasure.
Weaknesses
It requires predictions of the future, in order to judge the right possible consequence, in order to establish the greater good.
Tyranny of the majority- Bentham justifies appalling consequences, e.g. gang rape. The sine ethic problem: Mill said Bentham's philosophy portrayed humans in a 'degrading light'
Pleasure and pain are subjective, as is happiness. It is all dependent on the individual.
Mill's version is elitist and classists as it only applies to certain groups in society. Why should he be able to judge what someone's greatest pleasure are, his perspective is a highly middle-class view.
-
-
-
-