JEREMY BENTHAM
(1748-1832)
-Jeremy Bentham=DISCOVERED HEDONISM=
people want pleasure and avoid pain. pleasure is the HIGHEST GOOD in society.
***QUANTITY/AMOUNT OF PLEASURE is ALL THAT MATTERS. (Benthem said we should count animals b/c they experience pain & pleasure.)
JOHN STUART MILL
1806-1873
-Bentham's followers - Utilitarian
--Leading advocate of UTILITARIAN MORAL THEORY. **Mill's Book= Utilitarianism (1861) and "On Liberty"=DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF PLEASURE. QUALITATIVE DISTINCTION OF PLEASURE.
**MILL SAYS: Some kinds of pleasure ar
Classical Utiliarnarism:
1) Morality of an action depends solely on the consequences of that action, nothing else matters.
2) An action's consequences matter only isobar as they involve the greater or lesser happiness of the individuals
3) each individual's happiness gets "equal
According to classical utilitarianism, an action is right if it produce the greatest overall balance of ______ over _______.
happiness over unhappiness
happiness>unhappiness=action is right produces more happiness than unhappiness.
Hedonism:
*People want to MAXIMIZE PLEASURE and MINIMIZE pain.
*Pleasure is the highest good in life/people should avoid pain.
*Jeremy BenthAM BELIEVED IN HEDONISM (MAXIMIZING PLEASURE, MINIMIZING PAIN)
Egoism
Doing whats in your own interest/do whatever YOU want.
ex: Over thanksgiving--I want to go to Florida. =GO TO FLORIDA.
Principle of Utility
when trying to decide what to do, do action with the GREATEST *
AMOUNT OF PLEASURE for
*EVERYONE CONCERNED. (Need to measure amount of pleasure for everyone involved---not based on # of people)
ex: Grandmas house vs. Florida for Thanksgiving Break
4 peopl
Utilitarian tries to see if ......
Utilitarian tries to see if BENEFITS>cost.
Principle of Utility-measures the AMOUNT of happiness involved, not the # of people.
ex: Should we outlaw talking on cell phones in car?
Utilitarian would say...
Utilitarian--more happiness for society if we outlaw talking on cell phone, or more happiness if we don't outlaw cell phones? need to look at benefits>costs
Costs of Outlawing: 4.6 Billion Dollars of accident damage
Benefits of Cell Phone Use: $25 billion
ex2: Argument in favor for capital punishment (death penalty)
Favor/benefits of capital punishment:
1) death makes victims family happy
2) stops other from committing murder
Costs:
1) innocent people executed
2) some people unhappy.
Utilitarian tries to see if benefits outweighs costs.
A) 4 Advantages/Strengths of Utilitarianism:
Utilitarianism (Need to measure amount of pleasure for everyone involved)
1) It has a plausible conception of the good--maximize pleasure/ pleasure is IMPORTANT.
2) Fair Minded, EGALITARIM, DEMOCCATIC (Everyones INTERESTS/PLEASURE counts EQUALLY)
3) Strai
B)3 Problems/Weaknesses/Technical Objectives of Utilitarianism
Technical Objectives:
1) in-determinancies as to the range of application of the principle of utilitarianism (NOT CLEAR who to apply the principle of utilitarianism to-SHOULD WE count Animals?)
2) Future Generations--count happiness of people in the futur
Objection/PROBLEMS to Hedonism/Problems with Hedonism
Hedonism- Benthem maximize pleasure, minimize pain
PROBLEMS:
1) Hedonistic view reduces people to level of animals. Because animals try to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.
2) Pleasure is not the highest good, there are other values more important than
True or False: Principle of Utility says its ok to kill one to save millions/ send nude pictures.
True.
Good utilitarian considers:
All the consequences and effects so don't do the wrong them.
Act Utilitarianism vs. Rule Utilitarinism
1) Act Utiliarinism: Applies directly to ACTIONS. What actions you should perform to produce most happiness.
2) Rule Utilitarianism: Utlity (pleasure) applies to RULES of action, which RULE would produce the most happiness . APPLY RULE to action
ex: Rule