UTILITY & UTILITARIANISM

Utilitarianism
What is Utilitarianism ?
 “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to

promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce

the reverse of happiness." (John Stuart Mill's
Greatest Happiness Principle)
 In other words, judge an action by the total amount

of happiness and unhappiness it creates

 Examples
Say there is a train coming toward a group of 5 people tied to
the tracks

you're standing by the lever to make the train go onto

a different path that is heading towards yourself.
 Examples
A utilitarian would pull the lever to make the train head in
his/her direction. Killing one person creates a greater amount
of good than killing 5 people.
Examples
A large group of people is stuck in a cave because a fat
man (no put down intended) is stuck in the only exit of
this cave.

BOOM

The only way to free themselves would to dynamite

their way out, therefore sacrificing the fat man.
Otherwise they will all die.
Theory 1:Teleological Theories
 Defining characteristics
 moral goodness is dependent upon non moral values
 justification of actions based on ends: “ends justify the
means”
 greatest balance of good over evil
Example

Action:
Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings on President Truman’s
orders in 1945 during World War II

Consequences:
1. Two populous Japanese cities destroyed
2. 200,000 Japanese civilians killed
3. Japan Surrendered
4. This Option was better as it avoided the land Invasion
of Japan which had an estimated death toll of 1
million.
 Strengths
 compatible with our own moral reasoning (all done to
promote oneself)
 a prudential morality based on the assumption that
others will take advantage
 human nature to be self-interested (psychological
egoism)
 Weaknesses
 an ethical theory must be ‘universalized’ -- able to be
adopted by others
 human experience shows that we have a wide variety
of motivations including doing things for others for its
own sake
Theory 2:Deontological Ethics
 Actions or rules are valuable in themselves without any appeal to
consequences
 Rule deontological theories are very conducive to ‘role’ morality: duties
and obligations
 Duties are self-evidently true
 lying, bribery, respect for others

 Example - The Lockheed case in Japan.

Example – Ross’s System
 Duties of Fidelity – To keep promises.
 Duties of Reparation – To compensate people for injury that
we wrongfully inflict on them.
 Duties of Gratitude – To return favors that others do for us.
 Duties of Justice – To ensure that goods are distributed
according to the merits of the individuals.
 Duties of Beneficence – To improve conditions of others.
 Duties of Self-Improvement – Self-Improvisation with respect
to virtue and intelligence.
 Duties of Non-Maleficence – Avoiding injury to others.
 Strengths
 intuitively, many of the duties are plausible
 focuses on the treatment of individuals
 Weaknesses
 difficult to determine ‘rightness’
 prioritizing rules when in conflict is problematic
Classical Utilitarianism

A.Jeremy Bentham(1748-1832)
B.John Stuart Mill(1806-1873)
 Jeremy Bentham’s version

 Defining Characteristics

1. This principle approves or disapproves of every

action on the basis whether the action has a tendency
to:-

1. Augment or increase
2. Diminish or decrease

the happiness of the party whose interest is in

question.
 ACTION
S

Consequences

Tendency ?

Increase happiness Decrease happiness

Action Action
approved disapproved
The Hedonistic calculus
Bentham assumed that a precise quantitative
measurement of pleasure and pain was possible and
outlined a procedure that he called hedonistic calculus.
It states that :-
Reaction to Hedonism

Critics at that time complained that pleasure is too

low to constitute the good for human beings and
pointed out that even pigs are capable of pleasure,
which led to the charge that utilitarianism is a “PIG
PHILOSOPHY”.
John Stuart Mill’s version

 He developed a more defensible version of

utilitarian position :-

“actions are right in proportion as they tend to

promote happiness , wrong as they tend to
produce reverse of happiness.”
John Stuart Mill’s version
John Stuart Mill’s version
Mill departed from Bentham’s strict quantitative treatment of pleasure by
introducing the idea that pleasures also differ in quality. However Mill’s
insight does not succeed in saving the thesis of hedonism or the utilitarian
principle that we ought to produce the greatest possible amount of
pleasure . For example

TV Viewer Pie Chart

% of ppl
preferring trashy
TV shows
% of ppl
preferring fine
dramas
John Stuart Mill’s version
Mill departed from Bentham’s strict quantitative treatment of pleasure by
introducing the idea that pleasures also differ in quality. However Mill’s
insight does not succeed in saving the thesis of hedonism or the utilitarian
principle that we ought to produce the greatest possible amount of
pleasure . For example

OH GOD!! No
more of Ekta
Kapoor daily
soaps

A Utilitarian Decision maker

Other Forms Of Utilitarianism

The utilitarian principle involves 4 distinct theses

:-

I. Maximalism : a right action is one that has

not merely some good consequences , but also
the greatest amount of good consequences
possible when the bad consequences are also
taken into consideration.

II.Universalism : the consequences to be

considered are those of everyone.
Act Utilitarianism

“It states that an action is right if and only if it

produces the greatest balance of pleasure over pain
for everyone.”
The Case of Lockheed , 1972 , Japan

Action
Carl Kotchian ,then president of Lockheed
had:to offer $12.5 million in bribes and
commissions to sell 21 tristar planes in
Japan

Thousands of jobs Stock Holders

were saved were saved
Rule Utilitarianism

“It states that an action is right if and only if it

conforms to a set of rules the general acceptance of
which would produce the greatest balance of pleasure
over pain for everyone. In it the consequence of
following the relevant rule is considered. “
Example of Rule Utilitarianism

Examples:-

1. Working hard for examinations

2. Always stopping when traffic signal is
red
3. Wearing a helmet while driving
4. Recycling waste