Virtue Ethics 12 marker ‘Outline and explain the differences between the role of pleasure in Bentham and Aristotle’s ethics’ Pleasure plays a role in both Bentham and Aristotle’s ethical theories. However, the extent and focus of that role is quite different between the two theories. In Bentham’s theory, pleasure takes a much more prominent position and is much more important to deciding morality than in Aristotle’s theory. Bentham’s theory is hedonistic, this means that pleasure is the thing that makes something good. Bentham’s principle of utility is ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’ which literally means that the most moral action is the most pleasurable action. In this sense, pleasure is The Good to Bentham, it is the one irrefutable good thing in life. The Good for Aristotle is something very different. Aristotle thinks that The Good is Eudaimonia, which can be translated as pleasure, but is more accurately translated as human flourishing. Aristotle thinks that it is this human flourishing is the one good thing, and pleasure is something that will be produced whilst you strive for eudaimonia. Another difference between the theories is that Bentham thinks that pleasure and happiness are the same thing, when he is talking about pleasure, he means the feeling of happiness that we all know and can identify. Aristotle, on the other hand, has a very specific definition for what pleasure is. He thinks that pleasure is created by completing activities to the full. He thinks that pleasure is not caused by playing football, for example, but by the completion of playing football – by playing football well. Aristotle does not therefore think that pleasure and happiness are necessarily the same thing. Often, they will coincide, but they are not necessarily the same thing. The place that pleasure comes from in Aristotle’s theory also causes another difference between the two theories. Aristotle argues that if pleasure is created from the completion of a good action, it is a good pleasure, but if it comes from a bad action, then it is a bad pleasure. Bentham thinks that all pleasure is equal. His theory is quantitative rather than qualitative, he just wants to create the most pleasure. Regardless of what that pleasure is or where that pleasure comes from. There is also a similarity here though; both theories think that pleasure can be good, Aristotle’s just doesn’t think that it is the entire time. There is a third difference that stems from the way Aristotle thinks that pleasure is created. He thinks that the pleasure is within the completion of that action, rather than as a consequence of that completion. Bentham thinks that pleasure is a feeling, that is a consequence of an act. The most evident similarity between the way the two theories view pleasure is that rationality plays a part in how both theories decide whether pleasure is good. For Bentham this is a pretty easy decision, if you are experiencing pleasure then it is good. But you need reason to be able to tell that you are experiencing that pleasure. For Aristotle, rationality is equally important. It is only reason for Aristotle that makes us human, and only humans can experience pleasure because you need reason to gain pleasure from completing activities.
