Key Terms;
Relative
Teleological - It is the end or goal of moral action, not the act itself,
that is good or of value.
Consequentialist - the ends justify the means
Hedonistic - humans desire pleasure and seek to avoid pain.
Bentham;
Jeremy Bentham is regarded as the father of classical utilitarianism.
He was part of a movement that wanted radical change in British
society without the excesses and violence of the French Revolution.
Brought up in a strong Nonconformist religious environment, he
became an opponent of both the established Church of England
and of the Christian faith in general. Bentham called himself a nontheist. He, like his friend James Mill, rejected the term atheist, as it
is impossible for any human being to know whether God exists or
not. As a non-theist Bentham rejected morality based on divine
authority. He believed that there is one single basis for ethics and
that is nature. Nature replaced God as the sole higher authority to
which human beings must turn in order to understand themselves,
the world and moral life. Bentham, however, never attempted to
explain what he means by nature. He assumed that no explanation
was required. Bentham developed from this view the idea that
morality is the maximization of pleasure in society. He wrote:
Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign
masters, pain and pleasure.
Bentham believed that not only is humanity under these twin
masters, but that every human should prefer pleasure to pain.
Bentham gives no reason for this preference. He argues that it is
fundamental and needs no evidence. However, he does explain
that pleasure and pain are not just physical sensations; they are
also the psychological state that comes from feeling pain or
pleasure. It might be argued that some people prefer pain, whether
physical or psychological. The answer to this is that such people do
not see pain as pain but rather as pleasure. Bentham follows-up his
view that human beings are under the mastery of pain and pleasure
by arguing that what is good for the individual, is right for human
society and for all sentient (thinking being; able to perceive and feel
things) creatures. Three points should be noted:
1. The principle of utility (the greatest good for the greatest number)
has a universal application. Actions should therefore be calculated
on the basis of what is good for the world and not what maximizes
the happiness of a particular locality or class.
2. Every human being counts and all are equal. This is an
egalitarian (belief that all human beings are equal and deserve
equal rights and opportunities.) message - Remember Bentham
lived in a society where only the rich got good medical care,
education etc
3. Sentient animals are equally under the same law of pain and
pleasure and have to be taken into account when actions to
maximize pleasure are examined.
Bentham's Calculus
Bentham's utilitarianism was knows as Act Utilitarianism - Looks at
the consequences of each individual act and calculates utility each
time the act is performed. It is quantitative in its nature (this makes
any calculation easier as all pleasure has the same value)
He created his Hedonic Calculus' which gives 7 criteria to help
determine the amount of pleasure an action would create.
This can be remembered using the anagram DR PRICE
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+
Brief
Duration
Lasting
Lone Pleasure
Richness
Brings many joys
Accompanied
Purity
Painless
Distant
Remoteness
Immediate
Mild
Intensity
Intense
Unlikely
Certainty
Probable
Affects just
Extent
by pain
one person
Affects lots
of people
Bentham's calculus is used to choose between two courses of
action. For each possibility you add up all of the pleasure/pain and
then do whichever action leads to the most pleasure/least pain.
Bentham thought it was important to reduce pain first and then look
at pleasure.
Once a calculation has been done a number of times for similar
situations you can develop a 'rule of thumb' to avoid repeating the
calculus unnecessarily.
Mill - Background
Mill was raised by his father, James Mill, to be a strict utilitarian.
Jeremy Bentham also aided in Mill's upbringing, and Mill was
deeply influenced by Bentham's writings. Mill's childhood was rigid
and intellectual, and when, at twenty-one he began to question
some of his beliefs, he suffered a nervous breakdown. Mill later
struggled with his sense that utilitarianism was too unemotional and
that it failed to capture or understand the "higher" pleasures. Thus,
Mill's writings should be understood as the product of a struggle to
reconcile Utilitarianism with complexities that Bentham's theory
failed to acknowledge. However, Mill never rejected utilitarianism as
a moral theory, and he continued to use Bentham's framework of
pleasure fulfilment throughout his own writings.
Mill highlighted the main problems with Bentham's Hedonic
Calculus. He disagreed with its quantitative measure and its
predictive value. Mill was also concerned with what counted as
pleasure.
Mills theory was one of Rule Utilitarianism which states we should
act in accordance with rules which, if generally followed, would
provide the greatest general balance of pleasure over pain. This
helps with the protection of individual rights in a way Bentham does
not - e.g. if everyone went around torturing everyone then the
greatest happiness would not be served so rule - do not torture.
Mills Harm Principle
Mill was very concerned with the minority and how they could be
protected. His harm principle states that the only reason to interfere
with someone's freedom is if they are harming someone else. There
are certain general rules that must be established in order to benefit
the whole of society.
Mills Higher and Lower Pleasures
Mill believed quality was more important than quantity when it came
to pleasure. The pleasures of the mind are far superior to the
gratification of the body's desires. For Mill it is the higher pleasures
that separates us from animals - 'better to be a human being
dissatisfied than a pig satisfied'.
He gave the idea of a competent judge to lend support to this
argument. saying that if we where to ask a competent judge who
had experienced both types in full they would tell us to pursue the
intellectual pleasures as they are of better quality.
Higher Pleasures - intellectual, cultural, spiritual ones e.g. going to
the theatre, reading a highbrow book, education
Lower Pleasures - bodily/physical ones - alcohol, smoking
Food, Drink and sleep in the measures required to survive are
necessary. It is when done in excess they become lower pleasures
Preference Utilitarianism
This form of Utilitarianism is most commonly associated with
Australian philosopher, Peter Singer.
His modern take on the greatest happiness principle focuses on the
impact an action will have on the preferences of those directly
affected. In achieving the greatest happiness, Singer argues that
we should act in a way that satisfies people´s preferences—in other
words, what people prefer or would most like to happen. Like
Utilitarian's before him, Singer emphasises that peoples’
preferences count equally—my preference for something is no
more important simply because it is my preference. This requires an
impartial perspective is taken when considering the correct moral
action. In identifying the right thing to do, we must consider all those
affected by an action and aim to act in accordance with the
majority´s preferences.
Singer’s preference utilitarianism is important in considering the
practical ethical issues which arise with Voluntary Euthanasia and
Vivisection. If doing the right thing is acting in accordance with the
individual´s preference then keeping someone alive when they
would prefer to die is clearly wrong. In considering the treatment of
animals, according to Singer, it is speciesist to assume humans are
valuable simply because they are human. Singer proposes that the
moral status of “personhood” should be extended to some nonhuman animals given their levels of intelligence and that
consequently it can safely be assumed that they have a preference
to not be harmed. Conversely, those humans who do not possess
sufficient levels of self awareness or intelligence should not
automatically qualify for equal moral status.
Preference Utilitarianism, like other forms of Utilitarianism is still
consequentialist and relative. It looks to achieve an outcome that
satisfies the preferences of those directly affected and therefore the
right action will depend on the circumstances and the preferences
of those involved.