Utilitarianism

These slides are intended to remind you of

the main points (features). You should
also be using your booklets and doing
further reading to enhance your
knowledge
 Why did the theory come about?
The idea had been around a long
time but was made popular when
Bentham developed it

Bentham lived in a time where

many people lived in squalid
conditions as a result of moving
from the self sufficient country in
to the new industrial towns looking
for a better life

Bentham believed that it was

wrong for the masses to live in
unhappiness while the minority
were well off

This is useful as it could be used to back up a point, be used as

an introduction or be used in an evaluation of whether it works or
not as a theory
Motivation
Bentham recognised that people were
motivated by happiness when making a
moral decision. They asked themselves
what was in it for them and then opted for
that choice. This is what Bentham built on
This is an action that is right if it produces the greatest amount
of good for the greatest amount of people.
This means that This is what is By
Good is the
when making a useful to people as it
maximum pleasure
moral decision the K M
and the helps to make
minimization of
best or most moral good/ethical choices E O
action we can and this is a form of
pain. The greatest
perform is one that E R
good is the utilitarianism is
greatest pleasure
will enable to bring called act L G
the best utilitarianism which
or the happiness
consequences to E A
that creates the is based on actions.
less pain overall
come out for the Y N
majorities
for the majority.
happiness.
For example: a man has the choice to shoot one person and save
thousands or walk away n let thousands die. Principle of utility
helps to make a decision.
 Problems!?!
What about the minority? If the majority finds it
pleasurable to hurt them then according to this
theory it is morally right. The Holocaust could be
an example of this flaw.

However, surely it makes sense to have the

majority happy? You cant please everyone so it
may as well be as many people as possible.
 In order to help people make the right
choice which brought about happiness
to the most number of people
Bentham devised the Hedonic
Calculus. This is the idea of how to
calculate happiness by adding up the
happiness and subtracting the pain.
This is done by using 7 different
criteria.

Duration: how long does the happiness last for? Is it temporary or

permanent?
Intensity: how deep or superficial is it?
Remoteness: how near is the happiness?
Certainty: how sure is the happiness?
Purity: how free from pain is it?
Richness: how much will it reoccur or lead to even more happiness?
Extent: how far will the happiness spread?
 An evaluation
Its good that there is a guide to help
people make the right choice, especially
when there is many factors to take in to
account

However, isnt this a bit clinical? Is there

always time to work this out? What about
personal feelings and obligations to friends
and family?
 A Development
Lots of people saw problems with these ideas in
practice and Mill was one of them!

Mill recognised that happiness in itself was a

complex thing and that different people were
happy as a result of different things.

Mill developed this part of utilitarianism to tell

people that really it should be based on good
quality happiness
 It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied

John Stuart Mills believed

the highest pleasures that
we should all seek were
things that benefited you
morally such as going to
the opera and music and
lower pleasures are things
like drinking and sex.

Mills believed that the problem with

society was that people weren't educated
in the higher pleasures of life and in order
to improve society we should educate the
lower classes in how to seek the higher
pleasures.

By Shace Allcock
This responded to a problem of Benthams utilitarianism the potential of
the majority asserting their will over the minority.

Mill created the harm Principle to

answer the question of how much
pressure the majority can put on
the minority.

The only purpose for which power

If you believe in the harm
principle you as the majority
would only get involved in
ethical decision if the well
being of many was at risk.
can be rightfully exercised over any
member of a civilised community
against his will is to prevent harm to
others
 Types of utilitarianism - Rule
Mill said that happiness is much too complex and
indefinite to be the measure of moral worth

Rule utilitarianism is the idea that trial and error

throughout human history has led us to know what leads
to happiness or not, and that in the long run if everyone
followed secondary principles worked out from history
(such as do not lie) then happiness for the majority
would result

Rule utilitarianism proposes that we consider the

practical consequences of an action before carrying it
out, not to assess each situation as if it were new but to
follow rules that have been established according to the
principle of utility.
 For example:
The Falkland War

Margret Thatcher fought back against the Argentineans

over the British owned Falkland Isles.

One face value more people died and were injured than
were originally living on the island

However, the greater principle was at stake. Without

fighting back it may have made an open invitation to
invade any British land potentially costing even more
lives in the long run.
 Strong and weak
Further more rule utilitarianism can be
divided in strong and weak.
Strong rule utilitarians Weak rule utilitarians think
always follow secondary that some secondary rules
principles set, no matter can be broken if it leads to
what the outcome will be. the greater good in
They are rigid and exceptional circumstances
inflexible

For example:
A mad man is chasing a person, that person runs in to a shop and hides. The
mad man follows and asks the shop keeper if the victim is hiding in the shop. If
the shop keeper was a strong rule utilitarian s/he would not lie, however, if s/he
was a weak utilitarian they may acknowledge that in this situation is may be better
to lie in order to bring about the greater good.
 Other types
Takes in to account
Preference individual wants rather than
achieving pleasure over
pain e.g. an athlete pushing
(associated with Singer and
Hare) themselves to the limit in
training
This is the idea that instead
Negative of creating the most
pleasure/happiness for
people, people should
reduce suffering for the
majority
Benefits: Things
other than pleasure are
important to people
Benefit: This is
better for people as in
reality people benefit more
from not suffering than
being happy e.g. People in
LEDCs would prefer not to
suffer than have parties
which make them happy.
 Advantages/Strengths
1. Utilitarianism is good as it takes in to
account the consequences of an action.
While motives may be good or bad, only
consequences have a real effect on
human well-being.
2. It is reasonable to link morality with the
pursuit of happiness and the avoidance of
pain and misery.
3. It is an application which does not rely on
any conventional or unverifiable
theological or metaphysical claims or
principles. It asks us to consider no more
than the greatest good for the greatest
number.
4. The principle encourages a democratic
approach to decision making. The
majoritys interest is always considered so
a dangerous minority can not dominate.
5. Utilitarianism does offer a systematic way
to make an ethical decision which is
simple to understand and apply. In its
historical context it did serve a purpose
which was to put the majority first.
Disadvantages/ Weaknesses
1. However, even when we think we know the
consequences they can often have a knock
on effect and people can suffer second or
third hand. It is difficult to measure
pleasure.
2. It is a practical application that requires the
ability to predict the long term
consequences, and to predict with unfailing
accuracy. Of this there is no guarantee.
3. The theory gives no credit to motivation.
Not every action done out of good will is
going to result in a good consequence, but
the attitude behind it should be worthy of
some credit.
4. The theory is too simplistic it relies on one
principle only by which we make moral
decisions. Every ethical dilemma is unique
in some way and so we can not make a
decision on just one ethical theory.
5. In the past the principle of utilitarianism has
been used to justify the most horrifically
immoral acts the Holocaust for one.
 Past questions
a) Outline the main features of a utilitarian approach to
ethics. (21)

To get level 4 you would be expected to:

Identify a range of features and discuss them in some

depth e.g. Principle of utility, Harm Principle and what
they were achieving
Refer to the fact that this theory is based on
consequences
Display some knowledge of its historical context
what was Bentham trying to achieve and why?
Refer to other forms of utilitarianism e.g. Singer and
with preference utilitarianism
 b) To what extent can the claim of
utilitarianism to put human welfare at the
centre of ethics be justified? (9)
Does Doesnt

It came about in order to What about the minority? Can

provide justice for the majority
of poor in society
It is concerned with the
majority so more people are
put first
justify Holocaust
It neglects personal
preferences and duties to
people (prima facie duties) if
they are in the minority

Developments have evolved it It is based on being able to

to look after people e.g. the
development of the Harm
Principle
predict the future yet human
nature is not like this and the
emphasis is placed on
accuracy. Long term this could
cause more problems for
human welfare than it solves.
(a) What are the advantages of
utilitarianism? (21)

(b) Identify the main problems of

utilitarianism. To what extent do
these make utilitarianism
unacceptable? (9)