UTILITARIANISM

TELEOLOGICAL
ethical system judges the rightness of an act in terms of an
external goal or purpose.

UTILITARIAN ETHICS
argues that the right course of action is one that maximizes
overall happiness.
Act Utilitarianism –the principle of utility is applied directly to every
alternative act in a situation of choice.

Rule Utilitarianism – the principle of utility is used to decide the validity

of rules of conduct. A moral rule such as promise
keeping is established by evaluating the
consequences of a world in which people broke
promises at will and a world in which promises are
binding.
CONSEQUENTIALIST ETHICS
Proposes that actions, rules or policies should be
ethically measured and evaluated by their consequences
or outcomes, not by the intentions or motives of the
agent.
ORIGINS AND NATURE OF THE THEORY

Bentham Utilitarianism
The most moral acts are those that maximize pleasure
and minimize pain. This has sometimes been called the
“Utilitarianism calculus”. An act would be moral if it
brings the greatest amount of pleasure and at least
amount of pain.

Sources of pleasure
1. The physical
2. The moral
3. The religious
4. The political
Hendonic Calculus
1. Intensity
2. Duration
3. Certainty
4. Propinquity (or remoteness)
5. Fecundity (or fruitfulness)
6. Purity
7. Extent

Mill’s Utilitarianism
Action are right in proportion as they tend promote
happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of
happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and
absence of pain.
 He rejected the quantitave treatment of the principle of utility.
He introduce the secondary principle

Pleasure
1. Lower pleasure – Physical pleasure like eating and
drinking that the animals can
experience too.
2. High pleasure – Intellectual pleasure which includes
Artistic, Political, and even spiritual
pleasure. This is valuable for human.

Secondary Principle
He believes that past experience teach us which
kind of action promote happiness and which do not. Its
serve as practical rules, giving knowledge about the
tendencies of action when no better information is
available.
AN ANALYSIS OF UTILITARIANISM
• Appears to be a direct negative reaction to Kantian
ethics.

• Actions are evaluated through their consequences

• As a moral theory, utilitarianism has a transcultural

appeal as all sentient beings understand pain and
pleasure.

• As it is based on perceptible effect, it inspires and

encourages people to act morally even if one does not
believe in an afterlife.

• Utilitarianism also allows for exceptions to the rule if justified

by the consequences
• It believes that an act is warranted if that course of
action will generate the greatest happiness for the
greatest number.

• Utilitarianism might bring about complications when giving

moral importance to the consequences of actions.
(Example: A student may be led to cheat in his
exams following utilitarian principle).

• Utilitarianism indicates that an act is right even if it is

done from an evil motive as long as it brings about
advantageous effects.
BUSINESS’S FASCINATION WITH UTILITARIANISM

Utilitarianism is perhaps the most broadly

understood and normally applied ethical theory to
business. In an organizational context, utilitarianism
basically teaches that a decision regarding business
conduct is proper if and only if that decision
generates the greatest good for the greatest number
of person.