Setting the stage for
Utilitarianism
Which is prior: the Good or the
Right?

Can we develop a complete theory of the
Good independently of the Right?
What is the ultimate Good?

That which is intrinsically good, and from
which everything else derives its goodness

Traditional utilitarian answers:
–
–
–
Pleasure (and absence of pain)
Happiness
satisfaction of preferences, desires, or ends
The Rationality of
Maximizing

How should our actions relate to the Good?
–

Why not maximize it?
Thus, the right action in any situation is the
one that promotes the most overall utility
(the one that maximizes the Good).
The utilitarian account of
right actions

An act is right if and only if it is the one
which, among the alternatives, maximizes
overall happiness (aggregate happiness)

It is the consequences of an act that are
crucial to determining its rightness.
–
not the intentions of the agent
Utilitarianism provides an
impartial standard

My happiness is no more important than
anyone else’s

Whose happiness a particular act promotes
is (in principle) irrelevant to assessing its
rightness.
–
The issue is how much happiness it promotes,
not whose.
Utilitarianism Applied: Euthanasia

Freud’s case
–

Remaining life dominated by suffering
When, if ever, is a person’s continued life, on
balance, of no benefit to that person?
Utilitarianism Applied: Marijuana

Relevant utilitarian considerations:
–
Positive:
–
–
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Pleasure: people enjoy it.
Relatively harmless
Negative:
–
–
–
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Some addiction
Some risk of cognitive damage
Decreases productivity
Smoking bad for lungs
Marijuana...

Legality—relevant utilitarian
considerations:
 Cost
of enforcing laws against it (and taxes forgone)
 Cost
of imprisoning violators
 Potential
–
–
social effects of legalization
Replacing alcohol?
Decreasing overall productivity?
Utilitarianism applied: Animals

Recall: utilitarianism traditionally holds that pleasure or
happiness is intrinsically good—pain/suffering
intrinsically bad

The interests of animals deserve equal consideration

Speciesism: Discounting the interests of another
individual simply because he/she/it is of another species
--compare with racism, sexism
Animals continued…

Utilitarian evaluation of the use of animals

Experimentation on animals is justified only when it
promotes overall happiness (taking the interests of the
animals subjects fully into account).

Meat-eating is justified only if the pleasures gained from it
outweigh the misery caused to the animals.
Objections to
Utilitarianism

The problem of evil pleasures
–

The case of the “peeping Tom”
Incompatible with justice:
–
Convicting an innocent person to avert a riot.
Potential Utilitarian responses

Examples are far-fetched and highly
unlikely to occur in real life.
–

How unlikely? What if they did?
Rule utilitarianism: acts are right if and
only if they are in accordance with the set of
rules which, if generally followed, would
promote overall happiness more than any
other set of rules.
Accepting counterintuitive results

Why place ultimate trust in our initial intuitions?

Reexamining the case of convicting the innocent.
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Convicting the innocent person is horrible and unjust;
but is the alternative not worse, and also unjust?
–
The distinction between committing injustice and
allowing it to take place.