Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 71 views

    Utilitarianism Module 2

    Uploaded by

    Say Say
    The document discusses key aspects of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. It argues that an action is morally right if it results in the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Happiness is defined as pleasure and the absence of pain. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory that evaluates the morality of actions based on their consequences rather than intentions. Bentham proposed a framework called the Felicific Calculus to measure the pleasure and pain resulting from actions. The principle of utility and principle of the greatest number are also discussed as core concepts in utilitarianism.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Utilitarianism Module 2

    Uploaded by

    Say Say
    71 views24 pages
    The document discusses key aspects of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. It argues that an action is morally right if it results in the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Happiness is defined as pleasure and the absence of pain. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory that evaluates the morality of actions based on their consequences rather than intentions. Bentham proposed a framework called the Felicific Calculus to measure the pleasure and pain resulting from actions. The principle of utility and principle of the greatest number are also discussed as core concepts in utilitarianism.

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The document discusses key aspects of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. It argues that an action is morally right if it results in the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Happiness is defined as pleasure and the absence of pain. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory that evaluates the morality of actions based on their consequences rather than intentions. Bentham proposed a framework called the Felicific Calculus to measure the pleasure and pain resulting from actions. The principle of utility and principle of the greatest number are also discussed as core concepts in utilitarianism.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    71 views24 pages

    Utilitarianism Module 2

    Uploaded by

    Say Say
    The document discusses key aspects of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. It argues that an action is morally right if it results in the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Happiness is defined as pleasure and the absence of pain. Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory that evaluates the morality of actions based on their consequences rather than intentions. Bentham proposed a framework called the Felicific Calculus to measure the pleasure and pain resulting from actions. The principle of utility and principle of the greatest number are also discussed as core concepts in utilitarianism.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 24

    Utilitarianism

    Module 2
    MANILA, Philippines - Senate President Franklin Drilon
    and Sen. Francis Escudero disputed yesterday the playing
    in a Senate public hearing of the audio recording of an
    alleged conversation between a government official and a Introduction
    lawmaker about attempts to cover up the massacre of the
    police Special Action Force (SAF) commandos during the
    encounter with Muslim rebels in Mamasapano,
    Maguindanao last year.
    As Drilon attempted to block the playing of the audio
    recordings during the resumption today of the joint Senate
    committees investigating the Mamasapano inquiry,
    Escudero maintained that a third party who will play the
    recording may not be held liable under the Anti-
    Wiretapping Law.
    https://www.philstar.com/headlines/
    He contradicted Drilon’s stance that the playing of an 2016/01/26/1546749/senators-clash-over-
    playing-mamasapano-tapes
    unauthorized recording is punishable by law.
    • When considering the moral permissibility of wiretapping, we calculate the costs and
    benefits of wiretapping.
    • If we calculate the costs and benefits of our actions, then we are considering an ethical
    theory that gives premium to the consequences of actions as the basis of morality and as
    such is utilitarianism.
    • UTILITARIANISM is an ethical theory that argues for the goodness of pleasure and the
    determination of right behavior based on the usefulness of the action’s consequences.
    • This means that pleasure is good and that goodness of an action is determined by its
    usefulness.
    • Putting these ideas together, utilitarianism claims that one’s actions and behavior are
    good inasmuch as they are directed toward the experience of the greatest pleasure over
    pain for the greatest number of persons.
    “utility”
    • Refers to the usefulness of the consequences of one’s action and behavior.
    • When we argue that wiretapping is permissible because doing so results in
    better public safety, then we are arguing in a utilitarian way.
    • It is utilitarian because we argue that some individual rights can be sacrificed
    for the sake of the greater happiness of the many.
    Two foremost
    Utilitarian
    Thinkers

    Jeremy Bentham John Stuart Mill


    (1748 – 1832) (1806 – 1873 )
    • Their system of ethics emphasizes the consequences of actions.
    • This means that the goodness or the badness of an action is based on whether it is
    useful in contributing to a specific purpose for the greatest number of people.
    • Utilitarianism is consequentialist.
    • This means that the moral value of actions and decisions is based solely or greatly
    on the usefulness of their consequences; it is usefulness of results that determines
    whether the action or behavior is good or bad.
    • Not all consequentialist theories are utilitarian.
    • For Bentham and Mill, utility refers to a way of understanding the results of
    people’s actions.
    • They are interested on whether these actions contribute or not to the total
    amount of resulting happiness in the world.
    • The utilitarian value pleasure and happiness; this means that the usefulness of
    actions is based on its promotion of happiness.
    • Bentham and Mill understand happiness as the experience of pleasure for the
    greatest number of persons, even at the expense of some individual’s rights.
    Principle of Utility
    Two “Sovereign Maters” according to Jeremy
    Bentham
    Pleasure and Pain are given to us by nature to help
    us determine what is good or bad and what ought to
    be done and not; they fasten our choices to their
    throne.

    The Principle of Utility (PUI) is about our


    subjection to these sovereign masters: Pleasure and
    Pain.
    The PUI refers to the
    motivation of our actions as
    guide by our avoidance of
    pain and our desire for
    pleasure.
    It is like saying that in our
    everyday actions, we do
    what is pleasurable and we
    don’t do what is painful.

    It also refers to pleasure as good if and only if, they


    produce more happiness than unhappiness. This
    means that it is not enough to experience pleasure,
    but to also inquire whether the things we do make us
    happier.
    Bentham equates happiness with pleasure.
    Mill supports Bentham’s PUI

    He reiterates He reiterates moral good as


    happiness and consequently,
    moral good as
    happiness as pleasure.
    happiness and
    consequently, He clarifies that what makes
    happiness as people happy is intended pleasure
    pleasure. and what makes us unhappy is the
    privation of pleasure. The things
    that produce happiness and
    pleasure are good, those that
    produce unhappiness and pain are
    bad.
    Mill argues that we act and do things because we find
    them pleasurable and we avoid doing things because
    they are painful.

    If we find our actions pleasurable, Mill explains, it


    is because they are inherently pleasurable in
    themselves or they eventually lead to the
    promotion of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.
    What Bentham identified as the natural most preferability of pleasure, Mill
    refers to as a theory of life.
    For B and M, the pursuit for pleasure and the avoidance of pain are not only
    important principles – they are the only principle of assessing an action’s
    morality.
    Felicific Calculus
    Bentham provides a framework for evaluating pleasure and pain called Felicific Calculus.
    It is a common currency framework that calculates the pleasure that some actions can produce.

    In this framework, an action can be evaluated on the basis of intensity or strength of pleasure;
    duration or length of the experience of pleasure; certainty, uncertainty, or the likelihood that
    pleasure will occur; and propinquity, remoteness or how soon there will be pleasure.
    This indicators allow us to measure pleasure and pain in an action.

    When we are to evaluate our tendency to choose these actions, we need to consider 2
    more dimensions:
    1. Fecundity or the chance it has of being followed by sensations of the opposite kind.
    2. Extent are actions being evaluated on this single scale regardless of preferences and
    values.
    Principle of the Greatest Number
    Equating happiness with pleasure does not aim to describe the utilitarian moral
    agent alone and independently from others.
    This is not only about our individual pleasures, regardless of how high,
    intellectual, or in other ways noble it is, but it is also about the pleasure of the
    greatest number affected by the consequences of our actions.
    JUSTICE AND MORAL RIGHTS
    Justice
    As a respect for rights directed toward society’s pursuit for the greatest
    happiness of the greatest number.
    Rights
    Are a valid claim on society and are justified by utility.
    Legal Rights
    Neither inviolable nor natural, but rights are subject to some exceptions.
    Moral Rights
    It take precedence over legal rights. It is only justifiable by considerations of
    greater overall happiness.

    You might also like