LEARNING OUTCOMES

In this unit, you should be able to

• Articulate what utilitarianism is
• Critiqued utilitarianism
• Made use of utilitarianism
• Articulate what justice and fairness
are
• Critiqued justice and fairness
• Made of justice and Fairness

INTRODUCTION
It was founded by Jeremy Bentham and
further developed by his disciple, John
Stuart Mill.
Utilitarianism gets its name from Bentham’s
test question’ What is the use of it? He
Unit 3: thought of the idea when he came across
the words’ The greatest happiness for the
UTILITARIANISM, greatest number’. Since if focuses on the
greatest number, Bentham’s theory is
JUSTICE, AND FAIRNESS Quantitative.

STYLES OF PASSENGER LEISURE SHIPS

UTILITARIANISM
Philosophy
Utilitarianism, in normative ethics, a tradition stemming from the late 18th- and 19th-century
English philosophers and economists Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill according to
which an action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce the
reverse of happiness—not just the happiness of the performer of the action but also that of
everyone affected by it. Such a theory is in opposition to egoism, the view that a person should
pursue his own self-interest, even at the expense of others, and to any ethical theory that
regards some acts or types of acts as right or wrong independently of their consequences
(see deontological ethics). Utilitarianism also differs from ethical theories that make the
rightness or wrongness of an act dependent upon the motive of the agent, for, according to
the utilitarian, it is possible for the right thing to be done from a bad motive. Utilitarians may,
however, distinguish the aptness of praising or blaming an agent from whether the act was
right.

The Principle of Utility

1. Recognizes the fundamental role of pain and pleasure in human life.
2. Approves or disapproves of an action on the basis on the basis of the amount of pain
or pleasure brought about(”consequences”).
3. Equates the good with the pleasurable and evil with pain.
4. Asserts that pleasure and pain are capable of “quantification” and hence of measure.

*Utility here means the usefulness of the result of the actions. The Principle of Utility is
often described as “the greatest good for the greatest number”. It measures the
happiness or unhappiness that results from a particular action.

* Utilitarian's believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better by increasing
the amount of good things(such as pleasure and happiness) in the world and
decreasing the amount of bad things (such as pain and unhappiness).

* Here in Utilitarianism, good is defined as the existence of pleasure and the absence of
pain.

▪ There are basically two branches of utilitarianism. They both agree that the goal
of ethics is to maximize happiness. But they disagree on where that decision
should be applied:

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 -Act Utilitarianism
argues that we should always choose our actions based on what will cause
the greatest amount of happiness.
-Rule Utilitarianism
argues that we should figure out what sort of behavior usually causes
happiness, and turn it into a set of rules.

▪ Utilitarianism is a version of consequentialism, which states that the

consequences of any action are the only standard of right and wrong. Unlike
other forms of consequentialism, such as egoism and altruism, utilitarianism
considers the interest of of all beings equally.

* Utilitarianism is a philosophical view or theory about how we should evaluate a

wide range of things that involve choices that people face. Among the things that
can be evaluated are actions, laws, policies, character traits and moral codes.
*Utilitarian reasoning can be used for many different purposes. It can be used
both moral reasoning and for any type of rational decision-making.

* Utilitarian's disagree about whether judgement of right and wrong should be

based on the actual consequences of actions or their foreseeable consequences.
The Three Basic Principle of Utilitarianism
1. Pleasure or Happiness is the only thing that truly has Intrinsic value.
-to say that something has intrinsic value means that is simply good in itself.
2. Actions are right insofar as they promote Happiness, Wrong Insofar as they produce
Unhappiness.
- this principle is controversial. It makes utilitarianism a form of consequentialism
since it says that the morality of an action is decided by its consequences. The more
happiness is produced among those affected by the action, the better the action, the
better the action is.
3. Everyone’s Happiness counts equally.
- this may strike you as a rather obvious moral principle. But it was put forward
by Bentham(in the form, “everyone to count for one; no-one for more than one”) it
was quite radical.

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Criticisms

One such criticism is that, although the widespread practice of lying and stealing would
have bad consequences, resulting in a loss of trustworthiness and security, it is not
certain that an occasional lie to avoid embarrassment or an occasional theft from a rich
person would not have good consequences and thus be permissible or even required
by utilitarianism. But the utilitarian readily answers that the widespread practice of
such acts would result in a loss of trustworthiness and security. To meet the objection
to not permitting an occasional lie or theft, some philosophers have defended a
modification labelled “rule” utilitarianism. It permits a particular act on a particular
occasion to be adjudged right or wrong according to whether it is in accordance with
or in violation of a useful rule, and a rule is judged useful or not by the consequences
of its general practice. Mill has sometimes been interpreted as a “rule” utilitarian,
whereas Bentham and Sidgwick were “act” utilitarians.

Another objection, often posed against the hedonistic value theory held by Bentham,
holds that the value of life is more than a balance of pleasure over pain. Mill, in
contrast to Bentham, discerned differences in the quality of pleasures that make some
intrinsically preferable to others independently of intensity and duration (the
quantitative dimensions recognized by Bentham). Some philosophers in the utilitarian
tradition have recognized certain wholly nonhedonistic values without losing their
utilitarian credentials. Thus, the English philosopher G.E. Moore, one of the founders
of contemporary analytic philosophy, regarded many kinds of consciousness—
including friendship, knowledge, and the experience of beauty—as intrinsically
valuable independently of pleasure, a position labelled “ideal” utilitarianism. Even in
limiting the recognition of intrinsic value and disvalue to happiness and unhappiness,
some philosophers have argued that those feelings cannot adequately be further
broken down into terms of pleasure and pain and have thus preferred to defend the
theory in terms of maximizing happiness and minimizing unhappiness. It is important
to note, however, that, even for the hedonistic utilitarians, pleasure and pain are not
thought of in purely sensual terms; pleasure and pain for them can be components of
experiences of all sorts. Their claim is that, if an experience is neither pleasurable nor
painful, then it is a matter of indifference and has no intrinsic value.

Another objection to utilitarianism is that the prevention or elimination of suffering

should take precedence over any alternative act that would only increase the
happiness of someone already happy. Some modern utilitarians have modified their
theory to require this focus or even to limit moral obligation to the prevention or
elimination of suffering—a view labelled “negative” utilitarianism.

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Justice and Fairness

What is justice?
the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial
adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or
punishments meting out justice social justice.
conformity to this principle, as manifested in conduct; just conduct, dealing, or
treatment.
rightfulness or lawfulness, as of a claim or title; justness of ground or reason:
Justice is what we as a society regard as “right” based on our moral concepts of
ethics, rationality, law, religion, equity and fairness.
Justice needs to be in the light of the democratic principle of the ‘rule of law’. The
rule of law is a concept that denotes that all decisions need to be made in accordance
with the law. Nobody is exempt from the law.

John Locke argued for the theory of natural law. Thinkers in the social contract
tradition argued that justice is derived from the mutual agreement of everyone
concerned.

John Stuart Mill argued that justice is what has the best consequences.
John Rawls used a social contract argument to show that justice, and especially
distributive justice, is a form of fairness.

What is Fairness?
impartial and just treatment or behavior without favoritism or discrimination.
the quality or state of being fair especially : fair or impartial treatment : lack of
favoritism toward one side or another
Four types of Justice:
Distributive justice
Procedural justice
Restorative justice
Retributive justice

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Distributive Justice
Distributive justice, also known as economic justice, is about fairness in what people
receive, from goods to attention. Its roots are in social order and it is at the roots of
socialism, where equality is a fundamental principle.
Procedural justice
The principle of fairness is also found in the idea of fair play (as opposed to the fair
share of distributive justice).

Restorative Justice
The first thing that the betrayed person may seek from the betrayer is some form of
restitution, putting things back as they should be. The simplest form of restitution is
a straightforward apology. Restoration means putting things back as they were, so it
may include some act of contrition to demonstrate one is truly sorry. This may
include action and even extra payment to the offended party. Restorative justice is
also known as corrective justice.

Retributive justice
Retributive justice works on the principle of punishment, although what constitutes
fair and proportional punishment is widely debated. While the intent may be to
dissuade the perpetrator or others from future wrong-doing, the re-offending rate of
many criminals indicates the limited success of this approach.

TAXATION : TRAIN TAX LAW

Watch Video: Philippine Train law

Internet source: www.youtube
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C455VwtqxA

Watch Video: Philippine Train Law ( Overview )

Internet Source: www.youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUc5E7m4Yoo

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After you learned about utilitarianism and also Justice and
fairness. You will going to watch a video in title: Justice and
Fairness by John Rawls.
Internet source: www.youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfumE83oIQg.
After watching the video, you will write your reaction paper on the
space provide.

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 Answering review questions is a bit challenging. But putting your thoughts into
words will help you retain what you have learned. You can do this!
Keep in mind our JBLFMU CORE VALUES!
You will never always be motivated, so you must learn to be DISCIPLINED!

Unit References and Online Resources

Textbooks:
Agapay, R. (2008). Ethics and the Filipino: A Manual on Moral for Students and Educators, Second
Edition, Philippines: National Bookstore
Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer
Markkula center for Applied Ethics ( Justice and Fairness)

Web links and Online Resources

Internet source: www.google.com
https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision- making/justice-and-
fairness/#:~:text=While%20justice%20usually%20has%20been,but%2
Internet source: www.yahoo.com
Link: https://www.britannica.com/topic/utilitarianism-philosophy
Internet source: www.youtube
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C455VwtqxA
Internet Source: www.youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUc5E7m4Yoo

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