UTILITARIANISM

JEREMY BENTHAM
Bentham measured amounts of pleasure and pain accordin to se!en
criteria"
#URATI$N % ho& lon does it last'
INTENSITY % ho& intense is it'
REM$TENESS % ho& near is it'
(ERTAINTY % ho& sure are &e that it &ill come'
)URITY % ho& free from pain is it'
RI(HNESS % ho& much &ill it lead to more pleasure'
E*TENT % ho& &idel+ does it co!er'
Suppose +ou are a doctor dri!in to one of +our patients, a +oun mother a-out to
i!e -irth. Ho&e!er, she is in reat pain and difficult+ and it loo/s as thouh she &ill
need a (aesarean. It is late at niht and +ou come across a car accident do&n a
countr+ road. T&o cars are in!ol!ed and -oth dri!ers are in0ured and unconscious. You
disco!er throuh tr+in to esta-lish identities that one of them is the +oun prenant
&oman1s hus-and. The other is an elderl+ man. You don1t 2uite /no& the e3tent of
an+ internal in0uries and are of the opinion that &ithout immediate medical help one
of them if not -oth ma+ die. You are faced no& &ith the moral decision of &ho to
help first. An+ one of them ma+ die if +ou do not attend to them immediatel+.
Ho& &ould +ou appl+ Bentham1s criteria to this decision' #ecide &ho +ou &ould treat
first, second and third and e3plain +our decisions.
Tas/s
1. Read paes 44%45 of 6The )u77le of Ethics1 and e3plain ho& Bentham1s criteria
&ould -e applied to the a-o!e dilemma.
2. Read paes 45%48 and e3plain some of the pro-lems associated &ith this method
of ma/in ethical decisions.
9. Read paes 4:%4; and ma/e some -ioraphical notes a-out Jerem+ Bentham and
John Stuart Mill.
:. Read pae 48 and e3plain, &ith e3amples, the distinction &hich John Stuart Mill
made -et&een hiher and lo&er pleasures.
;. Ans&er 2uestion 9 on pae 5<.
4. Read pae 48 % 4= and e3plain &h+ there is a pro-lem &ith distinuishin -et&een
the hiher pleasures of the mind and the lo&er pleasures of the -od+.
7. Read paes 4=%5> and e3plain, &ith e3amples, the difficulties of a 6sinle%factor1
moral theor+.
Act and Rule Utilitarianism
Bentham presents &hat is /no&n as 6act1 utilitarianism, &here the anticipated results
of each indi!idual act are ta/en into account, &hilst Mill ta/es a 1rule1 utilitarian
!ie&, namel+ that one should o-e+ a rule if that that rule &ill itself -rin a-out more
happiness &ithin societ+.
8. Read the second half of pae 54 of 6Ethical Theor+1 -+ Mel Thompson and e3plain
&h+ Mill -elie!ed in the rule that one should tell the truth.
=. In &hat situations &ould he consider it riht not to tell the truth'
?>. Read pae 55 and e3plain the difference -et&een stron rule utilitarianism and
&ea/ rule utilitarianism.
11. Rule utilitarianism &ould 0ustif+ the death penalt+ for pre%meditated murder on
the rounds of @an e+e for an e+eA. (an +ou thin/ of a situation &here an
e3ception to this rule miht -e made in the interests of the reatest happiness for
the reatest num-er'