Maayong hapon sa tanan.

Slide 1

Kining akong himoon karon, usa lang ni ka pasi-ugna, aron sulayan nato
pagtan-aw ang Mindanao ug ang dagan sa iyang hunahuna sumala sa
atong nakita ug nasinati. Preliminary lang gyud. Ang sige man nako
madungog sa mga ingon ani na adunay hisgutanan mao lang ang national
na panglantaw. Sugdan nato pagtugi ang panglantaw na Mindanao kung
ha-om ba kini sa mga hunahuna ni John Stuart Mill ang iyang pilosofiya na
Utilitarianism.

Simple lang jud ning akong presentation karong hapona. Daghang pang
basahonan mahitungod sa mga ubang scholars nga nagsulat mahitungod
kay John Stuart Mill. Sa sunod na na sila.

Tungod kay daghang studyante karon naminaw ug classroom gihapon ang

atong paglantaw aning atong gibuhat, busa saksak-sinagol ang language na
gamiton ko - ma-english man, usahay tagawog ug adunay cebuano.

Ang Utilitarianism isip usa ka ethical theory naga-argue kini na ang

goodness of pleasure and the determination of right behavior are based on
the usefulness of the action’s consequences.

Slide 2
This means that pleasure is good and that the goodness of an action is
determined by its usefulness. Kung ipunon kining mga ideas, mao kini ang
mogawas, ang utilitarianism naga-claim that one’s actions and behavior are
good kung kining duha are directed toward the experience of the greatest
pleasure over pain for the greatest number of persons.

Slide 3:

Tandaan nato na the root word is “utility,” which refers to the usefulness of
the consequences of one’s action and behavior. Action and behavior are
utilitarian because some individual rights can be sacrificed for the sake of
the greater happiness of the many.

BALIKON NAKO:
Utility for J.S. Mill, refers to a way of understanding the results of people’s
actions. Specifically, he is interested on whether these actions contribute or
not to the total amount of resulting happiness in the world. The utilitarian
value pleasure and happiness; this means that the usefulness of actions is
based on its promotion of happiness. Mill understands happiness as the
experience of pleasure for the greatest number of persons, even at the
expense of some individual’s rights.

THE PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY

Mill’s principle of utility reiterates that moral good as happiness and,

consequently, happiness as pleasure.

Slide 4:

Miingon si Mill na what makes people happy is

intended pleasure and what makes people not happy
is the privation of pleasure. Unsa to maka-mugna o
maka-produce ug happiness and pleasure are good.
Unya katong maka-produce ug opposite - kasakit,
unhappiness and pain - mao to ang bad.

Mill clarifies that what makes people happy is intended pleasure and
what makes us unhappy is the privation of pleasure. The things that
produce happiness and pleasure are good; whereas, those that produce
unhappiness and pain are bad.

Mill explains, it is because they are inherently pleasurable in themselves or

they eventually lead to the promotion of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.

SLIDE 5:

This is not only important principles – they are in fact the only principle in
assessing an action’s morality.

IPAKITA ANG SLIDE 6

Pwede tayo magtanong:

1. Why is it justifiable to wiretap private conversations in instances of

treason, rebellion, espionage, and sedition?
2. Why is it preferable to alleviate poverty or eliminate criminality? 3. Why is
it noble to build schools and hospitals?
4.Why is it good to improve the quality of life and the like?
5. Why should we be concerned with climate change?

There is no other answer than the principle of utility, that is, to increase
happiness and decrease pain.

SLIDE 7:

Mill thinks that the principle of utility must distinguish pleasures qualitatively
and not merely quantitatively. For Mill, utilitarianism cannot promote the kind
of pleasures appropriate to pigs or to any other animals. He thinks that there
are higher intellectual and lower base pleasures. We, as moral agents, are
capable of searching and desiring higher intellectual pleasures more than
pigs are capable of. We undermine ourselves if we only and primarily desire
sensuality; this is because we are capable of higher intellectual pleasurable
goods. For Mill, crude bestial pleasures, which are appropriate for animals,
are degrading to us because we are by nature not easily satisfied by
pleasures only for pigs. Human pleasures are qualitatively different from
animal pleasures. It is unfair to assume that we merely pursue pleasures
appropriate for beasts even if there are instances when we choose to
pursue such base pleasures. But Mill also recognizes the empirical fact that
there are different kinds of pleasures.

Mill argues that quality is more preferable than quantity.

SLIDE 8:

READ: this is the famous Mill’s line:

It is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied;
better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if
the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is because they
 only know their own side of the question. The other party to
the comparison knows both sides.

Kung basahon nato ug lawom-lawom kining gisulti ni Mill, morag dili

siya makita diri sa Mindanao?

Madali intindihon ang comparison of pig and human kay layo ra man
jud ang baboy sa tawo. Ang lisod pag within sa tawo lang. Ang kalipay
sa tawo ay kalipay na within grasp lang sa tawo. Paglayo kaayo ang
domain sa kalipay sa kasinati-an sa tawo, dili ma-grasp na sa tawo ug
dili na ma-enjoy sa tawo. Lisod kaayo tungkaron ang kalipay na quality
ni JSMill. Unsa ba jud na siya?

Ang pakighugoy-hugoy sa katawhan, sa kaparyentehan, sa

silingan. Mao na ang pinaka-quality nga kalipay sa tawo nga nakita ko
diri sa Mindanao. Wala koy nakita o nasinati nga kalipay na siya lang,
masulob-on ang description niana. Kinahanglan ma-share mo sa uban.
Mao nga aduna nakitay tarpulin, streamers sa among panahon,
certificate na ibutang sa frame. Pag-itago na nimo - lahi na ang
mensahe niana.

What is quality of pleasure ang tinutukoy ni Mill?

Exmple, naka-graduate ang imong anak sa engineering magna

cumlaude ug number one the board exam, My OMG, ang nanay ug
tatay, magpabuhat ug pinka-nindot na tarpulin ug ibaladra sa
atubangan ug sa likod sa balay.

Due to this discussion, I remember Lanao del Sur na puno sa mga

streamers ug tarpulin. Negative ang reaction ko noon, everytime
dumaan ako diyan pero ngayon I am beginning to see another light
doon sa mga streamers.

I remember my mother noon. After sa recognition ceremonies sa

school and after pinning my medal on me. We walked pauwi sa amin.
Kaya na gud ng 20 minutes lakarin, pero aabot kami ng 1.5 hrs kasi
dadaanan pa niya ang kanyang friends and they were talking about me
and my medal for that year. Hindi lang once, meron pang repeat
performance the next day and so on. Yong kalipay na yon, hindi yon
pasado kay MILL? Unsa kaha to na quality? Baka underdevelop pa jud
ang sense quality happiness sa mga tao sa Mindanao?

Dili man sad to sensual na kalipay? Lower happiness? What

could be higher than that?

Ang kaya nato ma-grasp na kalipay kanang duol sa atong

kasinatian- easily ma-grasp. Joy, happiness is something that one can
easily grasp.

SLIDE 9:

EXPLAIN THE SLIDE

While it is difficult to understand how Mill was able to compare swinish

pleasures with human ones, we can presume that it would be better to be
Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. Simply put, as human beings, we
prefer the pleasures that are actually within our grasp. It is easy to compare
extreme types of pleasures as in the case of pigs and humans, but it is
difficult to compare pleasures deeply integrated in our way of life. The
pleasures of an Ilonggo eating chicken inasal/batchoy and an Igorot eating
pinikpikan is an example. This cannot be done by simply tasting
inasal/batchoy or pinikpikan. In the same way, some people prefer puto to
bibingka or liking for the music of Eraserheads than that of the APO Hiking
Society.

SLIDE 10:

PRINCIPLE OF THE GREATEST NUMBER

Equating happiness with pleasure does not aim to describe the

utilitarian moral agent alone and independently from others. This is not only
about our individual pleasures, regardless of how high, intellectual, or in
other ways noble it is, but it is also about the pleasure of the greatest
number affected by the consequences of our actions.

SLIDE 11: EXPLAIN IT

SLIDE 12:

Utilitarianism cannot lead to selfish acts. It is neither about our

pleasure nor happiness alone; it cannot be all about us. If we are the only
ones who are made happy by our actions, then we cannot be morally good.
In this sense, utilitarianism is not dismissive of sacrifices that procure more
happiness for others.

SLIDE 13:

Therefore, it is necessary for us to consider everyone’s happiness,

including our own, as the standard by which to evaluate what is moral. Also,
it implies that utilitarianism is not at all separate from liberal social practices
that aim to improve the quality of life for all persons. Utilitarianism is
interested with everyone’s happiness, in fact the greatest happiness of the
greatest number. Mill identifies the eradication of disease, using technology,
and other practical ways as examples of utilitarianism.

SLIDE 14:
Consequently, utilitarianism maximizes the total amount of pleasure over
displeasure for the greatest number. Because of the premium given to the
consequences of actions, Mill pushes for the moral irrelevance of motive in
evaluating actions.

Utilitarianism is interested with the best consequence for the highest

number of people.

SLIDE 15:

It is not interested with the intention of the agent. Moral value cannot be
discernible in the intention or motivation of the person doing the act; it is
based solely and exclusively on the difference it makes on the world’s total
amount of pleasure and pain.

This leads us to question utilitarianism’s take of moral rights.

SLIDE 16:

If actions are based only on the greatest happiness of the greatest number,
is it justifiable to let go of some rights for the sake of the benefit of the
majority?

Kani na question, magpabalik sa daghan kwento sa mga lumad at moro sa

Mindanao. Mo-flash back. Sasabihin ng students ko - first characteristic of
moral standard. This part of the ideas of Mill does not sit well with
Minndanao.

SLIDE 17 AND 18: