Utilitarianism

Hedonism: Epicurus--"good" is defined as pleasure and "bad" as pain. The good life consists of a body free of pain and a mind free of trouble (trained and disciplined).

 

Principle of Utility

Jeremy Bentham's utilitarianism is:

teleological--right and wrong depend upon the actual consequences of our actions

hedonistic--good=pleasure/absence of pain

"By utility is meant that property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness, (all this in the present case comes to the same thing) or (what comes again to the same thing) to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness to the party whose interest is considered: if that party be the community in general, then the happiness of the community; if a particular individual, then the happiness of that individual."

Measuring pleasure and pain (Hedonistic Calculus):

1. intensity

2. duration

3. certainty/uncertainty

4. propinquity [nearness]/remoteness

5. fecundity [probability of pleasure being followed by pleasure]

6. purity [probability of pleasure NOT being followed by pain]

All moral acts have consequences which can be measured by the amount of pleasure and pain they produce. The right act [duty] is the one which produces the most pleasure (NOT just to the agent but for all persons affected).

 

 

 

 

Greatest Happiness Principle

John Stuart Mill's utilitarianism is:

teleological

NOT hedonistic

Unlike BenthamMill distinguished the quantity and quality of pleasure.

lower (bodily) pleasures--pleasures that swine are capable of experiencing (eat, drink, be merry)

higher pleasures--pleasures of the intellect, imagination, etc.

If a person has experienced both, she cannot be happy without the higher pleaures. "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied."

Greatest Happiness Principle: The right act is the one that maximizes happiness (quantity and quality of pleasure) in the universe, for "all sentient creation."

Answers to objections to the utilitarian theory:

1. human beings do not act from such lofty motives as maximizing happiness in the universe

 

2. the theory is godless

 

3. persons do not have the time to calculate all the consequences of their actions

 

4. the theory allows for the sacrifice of individuals for the good of the larger group