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Utilitarianism - Coggle Diagram

- - - - So, an action is good if it maximises pleasure (principle of utility)
        
        Utility means usefulness - how useful an action is in ethics refers to how useful it is in bringing about certain consequences - making Utilitarianism a consequentialist theory
        
        Bentham thought we needed to calculate how much pleasure an action would produce using the hedonic calculus - a list of 7 criteria like intensity and duration (Act Utilitarianism)
        
        We should then do the action that will produce the most net pleasure
  - - - Higher pleasures (of the mind) have less risk of addiction and last longer
        
        Mill thought it was too difficult to calculate every single action that we do
        
        Utilitarianism can only work if instead society tries to figure out the rules that will maximise happiness if followed
        
        People then simply need to know those rules and follow them - this will work much better
        
        One of Mill's favourite rules was the 'harm principle' - that people should be free to do what they want so long as they are not harming others
- - - - For the most part, we should forget about judging every single action by itself - that's too time-consuming and impractical
        
        It's better for society to focus on developing a set of social rules which, if followed, will maximise happiness
        
        These rules can be debated and improved over time
- - - - Strong rule utilitarianism says that even if it maximises happiness, we should not break a rule. The problem there is, the theory is no longer about maximising happiness, it's about following rules, it seems to become a deontological theory and is no longer utilitarianism
        
        Weak rule utilitarianism says that if it maximises happiness, we should break the rule. The issue here is that it simply collapses back into act utilitarianism. If you should break a rule every time it maximises pleasure to do so, really you are acting no different to the way act utilitarianism recommends