An Introduction to
Ethics
Week One: Introduction and Utilitarianism
Introduction
 Course info: two hour sessions, once per week for six
weeks. There are no books to buy, nor are there any
(formal) assessments.
 Course format: Lecture lasting (roughly) fifty minutes
(*perhaps* preceded by student presentation). Short
break. Discussion. Conclusion.
 Contact
info (for coursework
wds1e11@soton.ac.uk
related
issues):
Introduction
 ‘Three sorts’ of ethics.
1. Meta – what sort of thing is ‘morality’? Are moral
statements (e.g. x is wrong) statements of belief, or
expressions of preferences? Or perhaps something
else?
2. Normative – What makes something ‘good’ or ‘bad’?
Or, ‘what criteria does (e.g.) an action have to satisfy
to be called (e.g.) ‘good’’.
–
permissible?
3. Practical
Is
abortion/euthanasia
(morally)
Introduction
 ‘Three sorts’ of ethics.
1. Meta – what sort of thing is ‘morality’? Are moral
statements (e.g. x is wrong) statements of belief, or
expressions of preferences? Or perhaps something
else?
2. Normative – What makes something ‘good’ or
‘bad’? Or, ‘what criteria does (e.g.) an action have
to satisfy to be called (e.g.) ‘good’’.
–
permissible?
3. Practical
Is
abortion/euthanasia
(morally)
Introduction
 We’ll be looking at three very influential (normative)
theories.
Each account
supporters/detractors.
1. Utilitarianism (J.S. Mill)
2. Deontology (Kant)
3. Virtue Ethics (Aristotle)
has
contemporary
Utilitarianism: A Quick Biog of
J.S. Mill
 John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
 Son of noted Scottish (utilitarian) philosopher and economist James Mill (who
was a good friend of Jeremy Bentham – perhaps the next most important
utilitarian after J.S.).
 Taught Greek at three –read extensively and by age of eight had read
Herodotus, Aesop, Xenophon and Plato. Taught Latin at eight.
 At the age of thirteen, J.S. began studying the economic theories of Smith and
Ricardo.
 At the age of twenty, Mill suffers a mental breakdown (surprise). Claims
reading Wordsworth helped him recover.
 Fought for women’s rights as an MP (first person in Parliament to call for
women to have the vote!), and was a vocal supporter for social reforms.
Utilitarianism: A Quick Biog of
J.S. Mill
 Prolific writer on economics, philosophy, politics.
 Most attention is given to two works:
1. On Liberty (1859)
2. Utilitarianism (1863)
Utilitarianism: A Quick Biog of
J.S. Mill
 Prolific writer on economics, philosophy, politics.
 Most attention is given to two works:
1. On Liberty (1859)
2. Utilitarianism (1863)
Utilitarianism
 Utilitarianism = ‘do that which promotes utility’.
 What is ‘utility’?
Utilitarianism
 “The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals,
Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that
actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote
happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse
of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and
the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the
privation of pleasure”
(Utilitarianism §2, 2 – 2.5)
 Quantifying utility
Utilitarianism
 A philosophy fit only for swine?
 Bentham – no qualitative difference Mill – higher vs
lower pleasures (Haydn and the Oyster)
Utilitarianism
 Oyster wins if calculation is merely intensity x duration.
 "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig
satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool
satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are of a different
opinions, it is because they only know their side of the
question.”
Utilitarianism
 Act Vs Rule
 Act – individual situations (shoplifting from
Waterstones…)
 Rule – Act according to rules that generally promote
utility.
Utilitarianism
 Introduction of Rights (to be revisited next week).