• One of the best known and most influential moral
theories. Like other forms of consequentialism, its core idea is that whether actions are morally right or wrong depends on their effects. • Actions are morally permissible if and only if they produce at least as much net happiness as any other available actions. ETHICAL JUDGEMMENT • Ethical philosophy differs from the science because it is normative or prescriptive , rather than descriptive. • In other words, ethics tell us how we ought to act or what we should do, while the sciences are more likely to observe how things are in nature or society. MAKING ETHICAL JUDGEMENTS IN UTILITARIANISM • Utilitarianism says that the RESULT or the CONSEQUENCES of an Act is the real measure of whether it is good or bad. • This theory emphasizes ENDS OVER MEANS. • Theories, like this one, that emphasize the results or consequences are called the TELEOLOGICAL or CONSEQUENTIALIST. FOUR THESES OF UTILITARIANISM
• Consequentialism: The rightness of action is determined solely by their consequences.
• Hedonism: The utility is the degree to which an act produce pleasure.Hedonism is the thesis that pleasure or happiness is the good that we seek and that we should seek. • Maximilizm: A right action produces good and the least bad. • Universalism: The consequences to be considered are those of everyone affected, and everyone equally. TWO F O R M U L AT I O N S O F U T I L I TA R I A N • Principle of Utility • Greatest Happiness The best action is that We ought to do that which produces the which produces the greatest happiness greatest happiness and and/or reduces pain. least pain for the greatest number of people. T WO T YPES OF UTILITARIANISM • Act • Rule An action is right if and only An action is Right if and only if it produces the greatest if it conforms to a set pf rules balance of pleasure over pain the general acceptance of for the greatest number. which would produce the greatest balance of pleasure over pain for the greatest number. THE MOST IMPORTANT CLASSICAL UTILITARIANS • Jeremy Bentham • John Stuart Mill JEREMY BENTHAM • According to Bentham, the most acts are those that maximize pleasure and minimize pain. • This has sometimes been called the “Utilitarian Calculus”. An act would be moral if it brings the greatest amount of pleasure and the least amount of pain. • Bentham said: ‘An act is right if it delivers more pleasure than pain and wrong if it brings about more pain than pleasure’ • By adding up the amounts of Pleasure and pain for each possible act we should be able to choose the good thing to do. BENTHAM’S HEDONIC CALCULUS 1. The intensity of the pleasure 2. The duration of pleasure 3. The certainty of pleasure 4. The remoteness of the pleasure 5. The chance of succession of pleasure 6. The Purity of pleasure 7. The extent of pleasure BENTHMAN'S UTILITY • Benthman's Utilitarianism is a universal hedonism. • What is right is which is calculated to bring about greatest balance of good over evil, where good is as defined as pleasure or happiness. • Benthman's view is described as Act Utilitarianism. • Benthman argued that we should be guided by the principle of utility and not by rules. JOHN STUART MILL • Mill said: 'The Greatest Happiness Principle holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain: by unhappiness, pain and the privation of pleasure' • Some kinds of pleasure are more desirable and more valuable than others, it would be absurd that while, in estimating all other things, quality is not also considered as well as quantity. • Mill differs Benthman's quantitative approach. UNIVERSABILITY • Mill says that in order to derive the principle of the greatest good (happiness) for the greatest number we need the principle of Universability. • He says: ' Each person's happiness is a good to that person, and the general happiness, therefore, is a good to the aggregate of all persons.' QUALITY OF PLEASURE • According to Mill, quality of pleasure employs the use of higher faculties. • He is answering the objection to Benthman's approach that utilitarians are just pleasure-seekers. • Mills says that the quality of pleasure that satisfies a human is different from that which satisfies animal. RULE UTILITARIANISM • Another aspect of Mill's approach is the idea that there need to be some moral rules in order to establish social order and justice - but the rules should be those which, if followed universally, would most likely produce the greatest happiness. BENTHMAN VS. MILL • Benthman • Mill 1. The greatest good (pleasure) 1. Balance individual liberty with for the greatest number utilitarianism 2. Focused on the individual alone 2. We should protect the 3. Quantitative-Hedonic Calculus common good, universalistic 4. Act Utilitarianism 3. Qualitative-higher lower pleasure 5. In search of maximization of happiness 4. Rule Utilitarianism 6. Consequentialist 5. Consequentialist THE ULTIMATE SANCTION • External sanctions like those that emanate from social and supernatural sources enforce the utilitarian principle, they do not compel one to follow it. • One of the external sanctions that provide the impetus for moral conduct is one’s fear of displeasing God. • Other external sanction is the fear of disapproval from other people • Ultimately, according to Mill, it is man’s “feeling for humanity” that constitutes the ultimate sanction of the principle of utility. This is the internal sanction of the principle of utility. • The aim of utilitarianism, therefore, is to promote a moral way of life that considers the welfare of the community and not just one’s own, such that Mill declares that it is the internal sanction of conscience which serves as the ultimate sanction of the principle of the utility. • Bentham’s version of utilitarianism focuses on the potential amount or quantity of happiness that an action can potentially produce for it to be considered right, Mill’s ethics makes a sharp and nuanced division of higher and lower forms of pleasure in terms of quality. • Although both agree that an action’s rightness or wrongness must take into account the number of those that shall be affected. • Mill says that the pleasures of a higher quality are those that employ our distinctively human faculties, such as the intellect. • However, it should be noted that Mill is not saying that people who have experienced both the pleasures of sensation and pleasures of the intellect consistently prefer the latter on every occasion. • Mill does not assert that the exercise of distinct human faculties like the intellect has a greater intrinsic value than the exercise of those that promote the pleasures of sensation. What he claims is that the pleasures derived from uniquely human activities such as reading, conversing with others, and philosophizing have superior value than other forms of activities. • Mill’s moral theory is considered as consequentialist in that it judges the rightness and wrongness of actions based on their consequences. STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES OF U T I L I TA R I A N I S M STRENGTHS • It is straightforward and based on the single principle of minimizing pain and maximizing pleasure and happiness • It relates to actions which can be observed in the real world. • Its consequentialism is also a strength, as when we act it only natural to weigh up the consequences. • Utilitarianism's acceptance of the universal principle is essential for any ethical system • The idea of promoting the 'well-being' of the greatest number is also important WEAKNESSES • The qualitative and quantitative approaches pose problems • Utilitarianism does not consider motives and intentions and so rejects the principle of treating people with intrinsic value. Utilitarianism can be seen as too impersonal and does not consider the rights of individuals in its attempt to look for the' greater good.' SUMMARY • Utilitarianism has some major weaknesses as fas as duty, justice, motives, intensions and consequences are concerned, and the principles of 'tge greatest good for the greatest number' and 'treating people as a means to an end' are rather dubious moral principles. ACTIVITY