Notes on Utilitarianism

UTILITARIANISM HISTORY AND MOTIVATION: SOCIAL REFORM Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873) Developed in response to injustices done to workers in the Industrial Revolution, developed as a theory of ethics on which to base law. I. DETERMINE WHO IS AFFECTED BY ANY GIVEN ACTION The first step is to determine who is affected by any given action. Since the experience of pain and pleasure is the basis for morality and since all sentient beings feel pleasure and pain, then the happiness of all sentient beings must be taken into account. II. EVALUATE ACTIONS: The Principle of Utility The second step specifies that the Principle of Utility be used in evaluating the effects on all. Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. John Stuart Mill, “Utilitarianism” in Utilitarianism, ed. by Mary Warnock (New York: Meridian, 1962), 257. Mill’s modification: Not all pleasures are equal. Some pleasures, such as intellectual pleasures and the pleasure of human self-fulfillment, rank higher than others. Net pleasure Intensity Duration Fruitfulness Likelihood III. WEIGH THE HAPPINESS OF EACH INDIVIDUAL EQUALLY The happiness of each must be weighed equally, none better than that of any other. ACT UTILITARIANISM VS. The goodness of every act RULE UTILITARIANISM The goodness of any rule is measured is measured. The goodness of an act comes from its conformity with a rule that meets the criteria for goodness. COMMENTS: Not about what “ought” to be but about what is and what causes what, thus puts an emphasis on KNOWLEDGE. Purely about CONSEQUENCES of things, rather than on intention. Doesn’t value integrity or individual responsibility.