QUESTIONS: ANSWER AS DIRECTED. INDICATE ALL QUESTIONS IN YOUR FILE.

1. Using the table below, fill out the grid with the details. Copy paste answers will not be corrected.
Summarize your points/details

a. As a theory what is utilitarianism? Fill out the table with the correct answers. (14pts)

Category: Answers: (phrases or short sentences only)

1. Goal of It is very open. It is not characterized by A being good

and B being negative. The act of utilitarianism can "bend
Utilitarianism:
the rules" and excuse bad conduct in exchange for a
favorable consequence.

2. As a theory: According to Mill, acts should be classified as morally

right or wrong only if the consequences were of such
significance that a person would wish to see the agent
compelled, not merely persuaded and exhorted, to act
in a preferred manner.

3. Rational principle It implies that agents should respond in the most

suitable way based on objective circumstances. The
principle is simply an idealized view of human conduct.
Rationality is fundamentally a feature of action. It does
not explicitly state or define the process by which actions
are chosen, but it does confine it.

4. Types: (define each) • Consequentialism - a theory that says whether

something is good or bad depends on its
outcomes.
• Welfarism - denoting all theories that demand
that we judge the state of a society in general,
and just distributions, by the welfare of the
people concerned, and by their welfare only.
 • Impartiality - the view that the identity of
individuals is irrelevant to the value of an
outcome
• Aggregationism - the view that the value of the
world is the sum of the values of its parts, where
these parts are local phenomena such as
experiences, lives, or societies.

5. Utilitarianism for According to Bentham it is an ethical theory that holds

Bentham that activities are inherently right if they tend to
promote happiness or pleasure among all persons
impacted by them (and morally wrong if they tend to
promote sadness or suffering).

6. Utilitarianism for John According to Mill, acts should be classified as morally

Stuart Mill right or wrong only if the consequences were of such
significance that a person would wish to see the agent
compelled, not merely persuaded and exhorted, to act
in a preferred manner.

2. Using your knowledge on the types of Utilitarianism, classify the following as: ACTUTILITARIANISM
or RULE-UTILITARIANISM (8 pts)

a. If I do not go to the meeting, then others will not go either. If that happens, then there would not be a
quorum for the important vote, which would be bad. Thus, I ought to go to the meeting.

Answer: ACTUTILITARIANISM

b. If doctors generally lied to their patients about their diagnoses, then patients would lose trust in their
doctors. Because that would be bad, I should tell this patient the truth. Answer: RULE-UTILITARIANISM

c. We ought to keep our promises because it is a valuable practice. Answer: RULE-UTILITARIANISM

d. If I cheat here, I will be more likely to cheat elsewhere. No one would trust me then. So, I should not
cheat on this test. Answer: ACTUTILITARIANISM

3. As a principle, what is the Utilitarian Calculus proposed by Jeremy Bentham. (2 pts)

Utilitarian Calculus is also known as the calculus of pleasures or the hedonic calculus; aside from
the terms, Bentham proposed that the purpose of ethics is not only to tell us what our desires are, but it
can also provide an example in a real-life situation in order for us to know what these duties are. The
Utilitarian Calculus is a procedure that assesses the costs and advantages of moral decisions that do not
need to be carried out in every case. He also proposed seven variables to examine while deciding the most
moral action or decision, which are as follows:

a) Intensity where it refers to the strength of pleasure or pain

i) This defines the idea that a subject chooses a decision that will give them pleasure
over pain, wherein the higher the intensity of the pleasure the more we value it,
and the same with pain but only in the opposite way.
b) Duration where it refers to the length of time the pain and pleasure will last
i) This refers to the time of the subject having pleasure wherein it preferably
chooses a long duration of pleasure, when it comes to pain the subject preferred
it only in a short period of time.
c) Certainty where it refers to the level of probability that the pleasure or pain will occur
i) This refers to the experience or sureness of a subject wherein the physicians
might choose those who are time-honored treatment over a new experimental
treatment for medical condition, since it is more likely that old treatment will
relieve the symptoms or sickness.
d) Propinquity where it refers to how near in time the pleasure or happiness will occur
e) Fecundity where it refers to the extent to which the pleasure will more pleasure
f) Purity, where it refers to pleasure, does not cause pain at the same time
g) Extent where it refers to the number of sentiments being affected by the action

To summarize, the importance of this is the total happiness of the community wherein the higher the
pleasure is the greater it will receive praise and value. However, Bentham was opposed to the idea of the
retributive justice “an eye for an eye” since this does not define the utilitarianism calculus, since harming
other people does not bring any pleasure or happiness as a result; therefore, he proposed a system that
is based on his study and beliefs and called a prison system based on reform and rehabilitation.

4. Using utilitarian calculation, which choice in each of the following pairs is better, X or Y? (10 pts)

a. X makes four people happy and me unhappy. Y makes me and one other person happy and
three people unhappy. Answer: X

b. X makes twenty people happy and five unhappy. Y makes ten people happy and no one
unhappy. Answer: X

c. X will give five people each two hours of pleasure. Y will give three people each four hours of
pleasure. Answer: Y

d. X will make five people very happy and three people mildly unhappy. Y will make six people
moderately happy and two people very unhappy. Answer: X

e. What do your choices indicate about happiness in the Utilitarian Calculus? Explain in two
sentences only. Answer: Happiness is the main priority over pain. Therefore, it will focus more
in a situation where pleasure was receiving more attention and value.

5. How does John Stuart Mill define the Utility Principle? Explain. (2 pts)

Despite Mill and Bentham being close ever since, they both have their disagreements since neither of
them does have the same perspective towards pleasure and happiness. ss. Especially wherein Bentham
equality is a moral idea of how we ought to treat sentient beings; the happiness of any individual person
is no more or less important than that of another, it is important according to Bentham is the quantity of
pleasure and not the quality. However, Mil disagreed, wherein he described and believe that intellectual
pleasure is superior to those of the body. Mill also described that pursuing our own happiness and making
it our one and only goal will lead us to self-defeating; since pleasure is not the only criterion for us to judge
morality of an action.

a. Cite your own example to illustrate Mill’s Utility principle. (4 pts)

An example from Mill’s perspective is when you are choosing what kind of food you are going to
eat, as a utilitarian and in Mill’s principle, you will choose the best and one of your favorite restaurant's in
order to gain happiness to yourself as a reward and as well a healthy stomach.