Transcript Utilitarianism

The Morality of
Consequences
Utilitarian Ethics
• We ought to perform actions which tend to
produce the greatest overall happiness for the
greatest number of people.
• This simple statement is the basic core idea of
utilitarianism and is also known as the Greatest
Happiness Principle (GHP).
Utilitarian Origins
 The principle of utility - or Utilitarianism - is a moral test
for the rightness of actions, based on how much pleasure
or pain they produce. The most well-known (and developed)
versions of it are found in the work of Jeremy Bentham
(1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). However,
the 'principle of utility' can trace its origins back to
Epicurus (341-270 BCE).
 Utilitarianism is a Consequentialist theory of ethics.
Consequentialist theories judge the rightness (or
wrongness) of an action, by what occurs as a result of doing
something.
Utilitarian Ideas
Key terms
 Hedonistic Utilitarianism: An action is good when it
maximises the amount of pleasure, leading to the minimum
amount of pain.
 Act Utilitarianism: Thinking about how our specific actions
might contribute to the welfare of others, or be detrimental
to it.
 Rule Utilitarianism: Only implementing rules (or laws), which
will lead to the well-being of the majority of people.
 Preference Utilitarianism: Thinking about how others would
prefer us to act (i.e. they would not want to suffer because
of something we do), even if they knew nothing about our
actions, or experienced no ill-effects as a result of them.
Basic Ideals Of Utility Theory
 The purpose of morality is to make the
world a better place.
 Morality is about producing good
consequences, not having good intentions
 We should do whatever will bring the
most benefit (i.e., the best outcome) to
all of humanity.
The Purpose of Morality
 Utilitarians have a very simple answer to
the question of why morality exists at
all:
 The purpose of morality is to guide
people’s actions in such a way as to
produce a better world.
 Consequently, the emphasis in
utilitarianism is on consequences, not
intentions.
Leading Utilitarians
 Utilitarianism has two key figures:
Founding father:
Jeremy Bentham
Most sophisticated advocate: John Stuart Mill
 Each had a different view of how utilitarianism
could produce good moral actions.
Jeremy Bentham 1748-1832
 Bentham believed that we should try to increase the overall
amount of pleasure in the world.
 This is called “Hedonistic Utilitarianism”
 Maximize the overall amount of pleasure
 Minimize the overall amount of pain
 “Hedonistic Calculus”
 “Nature has placed mankind under two sovereign masters,
pain and pleasure.” (Bentham J., Introduction to the
Principles of Morals and Legislation)
Outline of Bentham’s Ideas
 Definition: The enjoyable feeling we experience when a state of
deprivation is replaced by fulfillment.
 Advantages
 Easy to quantify
 Short duration
 Bodily
 Criticisms
 Came to be known as “the pig’s philosophy”
 Ignores higher values
 Could justify living on a pleasure machine
Bentham’s Calculus of Utility
 Bentham devised a way of calculating pain and pleasure 'units'.
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These would be measured according to seven criteria:
1. The intensity of any pleasure or pain.
2. The duration of any pleasure or pain.
3. The certainty or uncertainty of any pleasure or pain.
4. The remoteness of any pleasure or pain (or how much the
person making the decision might be affected).
5. The chances of the same effects being repeated (More
pleasure or more pain?).
6. The chances of the same effects not being repeated (No
more pleasure or pain?).
7. The number of people who will be affected by any pleasure
or pain arising as a result of the act in question.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
 Bentham’s godson
 Believed that happiness, not pleasure, should be
the standard of utility.
 Mill: pleasures differ in quality as well as quantity
 “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied
than a pig satisfied.”
 We are capable of better pleasures than pigs are
Mills Theory of Utility
 Advantages
 A higher standard, more specific to humans
 About realization of goals
 Disadvantages
 More difficult to measure
 Competing conceptions of happiness
Act & Rule Utilitarianism
 Act utilitarianism
 Looks at the consequences of each individual act
and calculate utility each time the act is
performed.
 Rule utilitarianism
 Looks at the consequences of having everyone
follow a particular rule and calculates the overall
utility of accepting or rejecting the rule.
An Example…(Do Not Copy)
 Imagine the following scenario. A prominent and much-loved leader has been
rushed to the hospital, grievously wounded by an assassin’s bullet. He needs
a heart and lung transplant immediately to survive. No suitable donors are
available, but there is a homeless person in the emergency room who is being
kept alive on a respirator, who probably has only a few days to live, and who
is a perfect donor. Without the transplant, the leader will die; the homeless
person will die in a few days anyway. Security at the hospital is very well
controlled. The transplant team could hasten the death of the homeless
person and carry out the transplant without the public ever knowing that
they killed the homeless person for his organs. What should they do?
 For rule utilitarians, this is an easy choice. No one could approve a general
rule that lets hospitals kill patients for their organs when they are going to
die anyway. The consequences of adopting such a general rule would be highly
negative and would certainly undermine public trust in the medical
establishment.
 For act utilitarians, the situation is more complex. If secrecy were
guaranteed, the overall consequences might be such that in this particular
instance greater utility is produced by hastening the death of the homeless
person and using his organs for the transplant.
Moral Critiques
 Rule utilitarians claim:
 In particular cases, act utilitarianism can justify disobeying
important moral rules and violating individual rights.
 Act utilitarianism also takes too much time to calculate in
each and every case.
 Act utilitarians respond:
 Following a rule in a particular case when the overall utility
demands that we violate the rule is just rule-worship. If the
consequences demand it, we should violate the rule.
 Furthermore, act utilitarians can follow rules-of-thumb
(accumulated wisdom based on consequences in the past) most
of the time and engage in individual calculation only when
there is some pressing reason for doing so
Criticisms of Utilitarianism
 Responsibility
 Integrity
 Intentions
 Moral Luck
 Who does the calculating?
 Who is included?
 What about the minority?