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Utilitarianism - Coggle Diagram
Utilitarianism
Bentham used humes idea of usefulness in ethics and happiness because everything searches for happiness. He created a system of right and wrong to benefit the whole of society
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Principle of utility- maximum pleasure for minimal pain. This theory is cornered with outcomes, pleasure focuses
Ultitiarianism sees moral acts as those which produce the maximum happiness and minimum pain for the maximum number of people.
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Hedonic calculus calculates the benefit or harm of an act through its consequences. 7 ways of working out maximum happiness
Intensity, duration, certainty of pleasure, fecundity, propinquity, purity, extent .
Weaknesses of the hedonic calculus attempts to quantify happiness it is hard to apply when faced with an immediate ethical dilemma
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Mill has problems with benthams utilitrian arguements, he argued that Bentham does not distinguish between different sorbets of pleasure or give them rank order
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Mill creates his own ultitrian arguement the higher and lower pleasures of life , mill said that the lowest pleasures shared with animals while highest pleasures are only experienced by humans
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Mill recognised that in reality people do not always opt for the higher pleasure due to being ignorance . A competent judge is someone who has experienced both high and low pleasures their role is to help to define the amount of pain/ pleasure the action causes since they have experienced both .
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- Happiness is desirable. 2. Happiness only thing desirable as an end in itself 3. Gereneal happiness of all is desirable . Increase happiness of others increases your own
Critisms of mill W.D Ross they dont account for complex lives and moral decisions- family take precedence over reasons (example- trolley problem)
Sedgwick argues how can we distignguish between higher an lower pleasure from each other which higher pleasure takes priority in moral decisions
Bentham act utilitarianism looks at the consequences of each situation/ act. Every individual circumstance must be looked at differently.
Mills rule utilitarianism looks at gereneal rules that can be applied universally across societies to promote happiness, creates a balence of good over evil or pleasure over pain these rules shouldn’t not be broken as they are the basis of morality . Only extreme situations can change this