A historical connection exists between

Epicurus hedonism and a very influential

moral theory called utilitarianism.

Utilitarianism was essentially a British
phenomenon, a philosophy based on empirical
investigation, hedonism, and the association of
ideas and a liberal and humane approach to
political and economic affairs.
Bentham, may not have
been the deepest
philosophers in the
Western tradition, was
certainly one of the most
practically oriented and
influential.
He had an active hand in
the reformation of the
British legal system of his
day.
O By utility is meant that property in any object, whereby it
tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good or
happiness and to prevent happening of mischief, pain,
evil or unhappiness to the party whose interest is
considered.
O The interest of the community is one of the most general
expressions of pleasure. A community is a fictitious
body composed of individual persons who constitute
as it were its members.
= sum-total of the
interests of the several members who
compose it.

CALCULUS OF FELICITY
O Benthams advice was articulated
in what he called the calculus of
felicity.
O FELICITY = great happiness; bliss.
O According to it, pleasure can be
catalogued into seven categories,
and this catalogue provides a
rational analysis of pleasure.
The 7 categories:
O INTENSITY how intense?
O DURATION how long?
O CERTAINTY how sure?
O PROPINQUITY how soon?
O FECUNDITY how many more?
O PURITY how free from pain?
O EXTENT how many people are
affected?

According to Bentham, whenever you consider performing any
action, you can analyze its value in terms of these "categories
and contrast it with its alternatives. (Ex: BEACH GUILT)
Going to the Beach with
friends
(most glorious day of the year)
Studying for CHEMISTRY
exam
(tomorrow)
1. Intense fun with friends 2. long-term happiness
3. Very sure that happiness will
come.
5. If you ace the exam, you
have more opportunities of
becoming happy.
4. Happiness will come as soon
as you hit the beach with
friends.
7. If you study and ace the
exam, mom and dad will be
happy.
6. All FUN! FUN! Pain-free
Are the assets of studying strong enough to overcome its deficits in
the face of the fun enticing you to the beach?
Of course, the guilt you would experience at the
beach has to be taken into consideration, too.
Bentham thought that his calculus of felicity was actually the
schematization of something we do semiconsciously (hence often poorly)
anyway and that once we become experienced in manipulating these
figures; we would be able to do it intuitively.

O In category 7: EXTENT, it is in this category that
makes utilitarianism a form of social hedonism. One
must consider the pleasure and pains of of others and
not only ones own.
O Besides the social aspect of utilitarianism, there is also
a democratic bias built into it- When it comes to
evaluating acts in terms of the pleasure they will
produce, Bentham firmly believed one person, one
vote principle. Each persons judgment is as
important as every others.

PREJUDICE APART, THE GAME OF PUSH-PIN IS OF
EQUAL VALUE WITH THE ARTS AND SCIENCES OF
MUSIC AND POETRY.
IF THE GAME OF PUSH-PIN FURNISHES MORE
PLEASURE, IT IS MORE VALUABLE THAN EITHER.
The greatest systematic criticism
of utilitarianism came from John
Stuart Mill. John thought of
himself as a disciple of Bentham,
but was clearly concerned about
the implications some of
Benthams formulations of
utilitarianism had.

Against the utilitarian thesis, Mill
argued that life had more
important ends than simply the
pursuit of pleasure. Moreover,
not all pleasures are equally
valuable the factor ignored in
felicific calculus was quality.

Mill feared than an
adherent of the calculus of
felicity might conclude that
push-pin (or watching
football on TV) is better
than the arts and
sciences(reading
Shakespearian sonnets), and
Mill knew in his heart that
this is simply not the case.
Problem: the calculus generates a
purely quantitative analysis, and Mill
was convinced that quality in pleasure
was even more important than quantity.
What if youre offered the following proposition to
the electorate of a particular state:
It has been determined that the teaching of
Shakespearian in the schools of this state costs
each taxpayer $25 each five years. The state
would like to know if you would prefer to
continue paying $25 per person for the next 5
years for Shakespeare lessons or would you
rather prefer a rebate of the $25 in the form of
2 cases of beer per voter?
O Mill was afraid that given the tenuous foothold
that culture has among the masses and given
Benthams one person, one vote principle, acts
with that he believed would be of more quality
would lose out.
O In order to counteract the possibility of leveling
down of culture, Mill insisted on the fact that it
was part of our human heritage to have desires
higher than those that lent themselves to analysis
in terms of the calculus of felicity.

Quality of Pleasure
Mills objection is perhaps summed up in his famous line:
THE UNCULTIVATED CANNOT BE
COMPETENT J UDGES OF
CULTIVATION
If one must base competence before
one is granted a vote, then on many
issues, only a small minority will have
the right to express an opinion (best
educated, wealthiest, most powerful
segment of the society).

Whoever supposes that this preference
takes place at a sacrifice of happiness
that the superior being, in anything
like equal circumstances, is not happier
than the inferior confounds the 2 very
different ideas of happiness and
content.

It is indisputable that the being whose capacities of
enjoyment are low has the greatest chance of having
them fully satisfied; and a highly endowed being will
always feel that any happiness which he can look for,
as the world is constituted, is imperfect. But he can
learn to bear is imperfections, if they are bearable; and
they will not make him envy the being who is indeed
unconscious of the imperfections, but only because he
feels not all the goof which those imperfections qualify.
IT IS BETTER TO BE SOCRATES
DISSATISFIED THAN A FOOL
SATISFIED the fool only know their own side of
the question and the other party to the comparison knows
both.

O It appears that morality must essentially have something to
do with promoting happiness and well-being while
minimizing unhappiness and misery.
O It would be very odd to think that some act was good even
though it brought nothing unhappiness and misery to
absolutely everybody. Still some serious problems arise like
its consequentialist nature (has to be dealt with shortly),
and he other has to do with the notions of justice and
meritoriousness.

PROBLEMS OF UTILITARIANISM-
O ACT UTILITARIANISM contends that we should act so
as to produce the greatest amount of happiness for the
most people. In other words, before acting, ask yourself
this: What will be the consequences of my action? If the
consequences are good, the actions is right; if they are
bad, then the action is wrong. For act utilitarian, THE
END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS.
O RULE UTILITARIANISM- in contemplating one of two
acts, a person should perform that act governed by a
(hypothetical) rule whose general obedience would
produce the greatest amount of happiness. Ethicist
point out that we get into so many dilemmas when we
apply the greatest happiness principle to a particular
act rather than to the general rule that the act
implements. What we should be concerned with is
following the rules that have the best consequences,
not with carrying out that has the best consequences.

O An act is GOOD or BAD only in terms of its
CONSEQUENCES.
O Acts that result in happiness, well-being, and
flourishing are good; acts that result in the opposite
are bad. We also feel that some acts those
performed out of moral duty are right independent
of their moral consequences.

Some Implications...
The problem of justice and
meritoriousness:
CASE 1:
The problem of justice
and meritoriousness:
CASE 2: