** FROM PPT, BOOK, AND PERSONAL CLASSICAL UTILITARIANISM

NOTES **
- Based on the outcome
APPLICATION EXAMPLE - Greatest number of people
• Greatest balance of pleasure over
Duterte’s campaign on War on drugs
pain for everyone affected of our
- Aim is to rehabilitate but not to kill. action
The killings is just unintended
consequence of how the program has
become. ORIGINS AND NATURE OF THE THEORY
- Good purpose but unacceptable 1. Robinhood of Loxley
execution o steals for others which makes him
a utilitarian as he thinks for the
greater good and well-being of
NORMATIVE ETHICS
individuals
- How are you going to live your life
** action is to be deemed moral or not based
(is it to support human rights or something that
on the consequences and not on its nature
aspire safety and security)
2. Jeremy Bentham:
o Father of Utilitarianism
2 FORMS OF NORMATIVE ETHICS o The more, the merrier
o Many benefits = rightfulness of the
1. Consequentialism
act
- people are bound to do an action that
o Stated that humans subscribe to
will yield the good consequences
Hedonism
- from the word consequent, it deals with
consequence, result, and outcome
- Hedonism: pleasure over pain
- Social Hedonism: happiness of the
2. Non-consequentialism
community rather than of the individual
- some actions are just or unjust in
alone
nature, and not because they are to yield
- Empiricism: experience
good or bad consequences
- Moral maxim (the greatest happiness
- actions you believe is right or wrong
principle) – “The greatest amount of
even though you haven’t seen yet the
happiness for the greatest number.”
outcome

*Utilitarianism is a kind of The Hedonistic Calculus

CONSEQUENTIALISM
- formula provided by Bentham
- happiness is pleasure
- all kinds of pleasure are acceptable

Group 1 Amo, Fajardo, Macalintal, Pascual, Ramilo, Villarmino

BSA 2-1
 - in times when you have to choose in
which and whose happiness will you
choose.
- 7 components:
o Intensity – how intense will the
the pleasure be?
o Duration – how long will the
enjoyment last?
o Certainty – how assured are you
that you will experience
pleasure?
o Proximity – how soon are you
going to experience pleasure?
o Fecundity – how many times the
pleasure will be repeated?
o Purity- will there be pain?
o Extent – How many people will
experience pleasure?
- better used when applied indirectly: rule
of thumb / automatic response
- Direct application when:
1. Face big decision – we have to look
at it at the long run
2. Moral rules conflict – what is the best
thing to do in each situation. There is
already stablish moral rules.
3. To arrive at moral rules – you are the
one setting yourself. You are the one
creating your moral rules.
3. John Stuart Mill
o quality over quantity (opposite to
Bentham)
o popularized utilitarianism
o secret to happiness is limitation of
desire
o provided the higher form
(intellectual) and lower form of
pleasure (physical/bestial)
o you cannot judge an action if you
haven’t experienced it
Group 1
BSA 2-1
CONSEQUENTIALISM (and more of its kind)
1. Egoism: results are for our own benefit
only ; for ourselves
2. Utilitarianism: for everyone affected ; for
the greater population
3. Hedonism: pleasure over pain
4. Pluralism: variety of goods; an action is
innately good
Take note:
- Pluralistic rule utilitarianism rejects
hedonism and accepts a pluralistic view
of value (that many things are good in
nature such as virtue, knowledge,
pleasure, life, and freedom).
- Rule utilitarians claim that their proposed
theory avoids strange inferences and
rather creates better consequences.
- Happiness is not the synonymous to
having pleasure
- Happiness is having overall contentment
with our life
- To live right is the key to happiness and
the byproduct of it is obtaining
contentment
- Utilitarianism is a double-edged sword,
can be good or bad
IMPLICATIONS:
1. Enlightened moral thinking would reject
utilitarianism – lynching
2. A utilitarian philosopher hired to give a
moral justification to slavery
3. You maximize pleasure by secretly killing
your miserable rich father
4. Utilitarianism approves any harm to an
individual for the benefit of the general
rule
Amo, Fajardo, Macalintal, Pascual, Ramilo, Villarmino
 5. Bring same pleasure and pain results by Consump- Take heroin for It is a strict rule
either honest or dishonest means tion of recreational that one should
Heroin purposes if it not take heroin
shall produce for recreational
the best purposes.
RULE UTILITARIANISM
consequences.
- One person acts in accordance of strict Adultery Commit In any case,
rules adultery it shall committing
- Despite the action being bad, if you are produce the adultery is not
ordered to do that, you cannot do best permitted.
anything but follow consequences.

TWO-STEP APPROACH IN RULE

2 Types of Changes from Classical To Rule UTILITARIANISM
Utilitarianism
1. We look for the rules that will result to the
1. Move from Hedonism to Pluralism: based best consequences for people in society to try to
on emotions or rational actions follow.
2. Move from Act Utilitarianism to Rule
Utilitarianism 2. We apply the said rules to our action

DIFFERENCE OF ACT UTILITARIANISM TO IN RULE UTILITARIANISM:

RULE UTILITARIANISM 1. We should examine the consequences in
AU: based on best consequences terms of various goods.

RU: prescribed by set of rules 2. We tend to follow the rules with the best
consequences for society to comply.
3. Avoids bizarre implications of utilitarianism
COMPARISON FOR EASIER
UNDERSTANDING 4. Its emphasis on the importance of following
strict rules would yield better results for the
ACT RULE society in the long run
UTILITARIANISM UTILITARIANISM
Killing Killing is Killing is strictly
permitted only wrong, but with
PROBLEMS OF RULE UTILITARIANISM
if it shall exceptions for a
produce the few carefully 1. Why should you have a duty to follow
best defined cases simple rules, if not complying to them
consequences. (like self- will produce better results?
defense).
2. Even if it would generally show you
the right judgements, would seem to
do so due to its faulty reasons.

Group 1 Amo, Fajardo, Macalintal, Pascual, Ramilo, Villarmino

BSA 2-1
** NOTES FROM THE YOUTUBE VIDEO IN in Utilitarianism, you are not special when it
LMS ** comes to anybody else.

— FLASH PHILOSOPHY —
UTILITARIANISM
(Examples)
Moral theory that makes the results, or
consequences of our actions as the top priority,
Tim is on an expedition in South America
regardless of the intentions.
when he stumbled upon a group of 20
indigenous people, along with a group of armed
It was formulated in 1800s by two British
men. Those indigenous people would be killed
philosophers named Jeremy Bentham and
for protesting to the cruel authorities, and then
John Stuart Mill. However, Epicurus is one of
the leader of those armed men gave Tim a
its philosophical ancestors besides the other
chance to shoot 1 of the captured indigenous
ancient Greek thinkers.
people, in exchange for the freedom of the other
19. If Tim refused to shoot, all 20 prisoners will
ACTIONS SHOULD BE MEASURED IN
be killed.
TERMS OF THE HAPPINESS, OR
PLEASURE, THAT THEY PRODUCE.
What would Tim do? What would you do?
Utilitarians think that this moral theory
This is a though experiment made by
should be applied with no prejudice to everyone
Bernard Williams, a British philosopher, in the
but they thought that it’s done by grounding it in
20Th century and he shows this instance as a
something instinctive, which is the basic human
Critique of Utilitarianism.
desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
The Utilitarian theory clearly demands
Therefore, Utilitarianism is a
that Tim must kill 1 of the prisoners for the other
HEDONISTIC Moral theory, meaning, good =
19 prisoner’s freedom. But Bernard argues that
pleasant. But it is not an egoistic theory.
no moral theory must demand taking an
innocent life.
EGOISM
says that everyone acts in pursuit of their
If one thinks like a KANTIAN, Williams
personal and own good
argues that Tim is not at fault that the leader is
cruel, and that Tim should not kill just to sort out
the situation.
PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY
"We should act always so as to produce
UTILITARIANISM IS A REALLY
the greatest good for greatest number."
DEMANDING MORAL THEORY.

You must choose the option which will

People do terrible things in this world we
produce the most overall happiness for all the
live in, and if we are to be in that situation, we
members of the group, even if it means less
must do anything to make that situation better
happiness for you. Despite how special you are,
even if it means that we’ll have to get our hands

Group 1 Amo, Fajardo, Macalintal, Pascual, Ramilo, Villarmino

BSA 2-1
dirty because if we do not do anything, our
hands will still be dirty.
So, Tim should not see the case as him
killing one person because all of them are
destined to die anyway but instead, he should
see the act as a way to save the other 19
prisoners.
WHEN YOU WANT TO FOLLOW
UTILITARIANISM, YOU HAVE TWO
OPTIONS.
1.) ACT UTILITARIANISM
- Classical Utilitarianism
- Choosing the action that will produce the
greatest good for the greatest number of
people.
However, there are time when this act can seem
to be wrong.
Sometimes, in order to do the greatest
good for a greater number of people, killings
must be done. In contrast to Rule Utilitarianism
wherein people must concern for its long term
effect and on a wider scale.
WE CANNOT LIVE IN A SOCIETY
WHERE INNOCENT PEOPLE ARE TAKEN
OFF THE STREETS JUST FOR THEIR
ORGANS TO BE HARVESTED BECAUSE IT
SHOWS LESSER UTILITY THAN WHEN YOU
DON NOT NEED TO LIVE IN FEAR
EVERYDAY.
Rule Utilitarianism makes us avoid
actions that might maximize the utility in a short
period of time, and instead makes us follow the
rules that can maximize utility for the long run.

For example, there is a surgeon who has

4 patients waiting for organ donors. 1 needs a
heart, the other needs a lung, 2 are waiting for
kidneys, and the last patient needs a liver. The
surgeon is certain that these patients will die
even before they will be put up for transplant.
The doctor happens to know a neighbor who is
pretty much alone, without any family, and a
total recluse wherein no one would even notice
his disappearance. Miraculously, that neighbor
is a match for all the surgeon’s patients. An Act
Utilitarianism would kill that neighbor even if it
would be unfortunate for the neighbor, at least
his organs made the patients to live.

2.) RULE UTILITARIANISM

- We must live by rules that, in general, are
likely to lead to the greatest good for the
greatest number.

Group 1 Amo, Fajardo, Macalintal, Pascual, Ramilo, Villarmino

BSA 2-1
 A DIAGRAM FOR BETTER REPRESENTATION OF THOUGHTS

Group 1 Amo, Fajardo, Macalintal, Pascual, Ramilo, Villarmino

BSA 2-1