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8/13/2019 Bentham Final
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Utilitarianism
&Bentham Nature has placed mankind under the governance
of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure
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JEREMY
BENTHAM
Theory
of
Utility
Pleasure
& Pain
Theory of Value
Quantification of Action
Action of
Judges
Legislation
Property
Right
Punishment
Theory
Precedent
Max. PleasureMin. Pain
Parliamentary
sovereigntyAction
And More
Consequentialisttheory?
Forms of
Utilitarianism
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Utilitarianism
[I]t is the greatest happiness of the greatest
number that is the measure of right and wrong
and every action is governed by pain and pleasure
Introduction
Utilitarianism ( from Lat. utilis: useful ) is a tendency within normativeethics.
Complex instrument for the empirical-rational justification of action
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Introduction Cont..
The origins of utilitarian thinking go back to antiquity (Plato,
Aristotle and Epicurus),.
Also found in mediaeval times (Thomas Aquinas)
The early modern period (in particular, David Hume, Claude-
Adrien Helvetius and Cesare Beccaria)
Of prime importance is Jeremy Bentham, whose work An
Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1798)
laid the foundation of classical utilitarianism
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The Utility Principle and the Felicific Calculus
Bentham begins his principal work An Introduction to the
Principles of Morals and Legislation with the assertion that
both our is and our ought are determined by pleasure and
pain
Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign
masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we
ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand
the standard of right and wrong, on the other hand the chain of causes
and effects, are fastened to their throne
Next, Bentham introduces the principle of utility, which applies not
only to private individuals but also to the government:
By the principle of utility is meant that principle which approves ordisapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency which
it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party
whose interest is in question: or, what is the same thing in other words,
to promote or to oppose that happiness. I say of every action
whatsoever; and therefore not only of every action of a private
individual, but of every measure of government
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Utilitarianism and Consequence
For the utilitarian, analysis of the consequences of actions is central tomoral thinking. Utilitarianism measures the moral quality of an action by
the quality of its consequences, not by its conformity to rules.
Accordingly, actions should be judged according to whether they are
useful on the basis of their consequences. Hence, utilitarianism is also
called a consequentialist theory.
Actions or rules for action are not adjudged right or wrong on their own
account, but by reference to their consequences for the people they
affect.
However, if the ethics of all actions are judged by their consequencesalone, it means that there are no good or bad actions per se. It also
implies that the intentions which underlie these actions are of no
importance. Nor is there any such thing as a good or bad motive per se.
A motive is only bad if it gives rise to an action with adverse
consequences
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Sanction Source Time
frame
Physical Ordinary course of nature This Life
Political Institutional order This Life
Moral Popular community This Life
Religious Supernatural power This and
afterlife
Bentham obviously established an analogy
between physical and legal causation
asdsdfddf
A binding force to any law or rule of
conduct
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Utilitarianism Depends on a Theory of Value
It is claimed that morality depends on the consequences of
an action
Utilitarianism presupposes knowledge of how good or bad
consequences can be recognized.
That is, it requires a theory about a suitable criterion for
assigning something a ‘value’, so that it can be designated as
‘good’ or ‘bad’.
For an action is not useful in its own right, but only with
reference to something else. In view of that, utilitarianismneeds a theory of value which defines the scale of utility, so
that the utility generated can be measured.
So utilitarianism is a combination of consequentialism, on theone hand, and a value theory on the other
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Utilitarianism Depends on a Theory of Value
According to Bentham and J. S. Mill, utilitarianism itself takes up a value
theoretical position in which the fulfilment of human needs – human
happiness, in other words –
is held to be the highest value.
Thus the goal is the maximum satisfaction, or the minimum frustration,
of needs. For Bentham, human happiness is whatever the people
concerned believe it to be.
The means for achieving happiness cannot be determined a priori.
Knowledge of happiness, of the means to maximize happiness, and the
form of action most conducive to it, is a matter of experience alone.
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What is needed in the first instance is empirical knowledge;
that is, knowledge of the consequences of an action and the
meaning of these consequences for the welfare of society.
Thus the utilitarian theory of ethics is firmly rooted in
reality.
According to Bentham, the utility of an action can bedetermined precisely by making reference to seven criteria
(1) Intensity
(2) Duration
(3) Certainty or uncertainty
(4) Propinquity or remoteness
(5) Fecundity
(6) Purity
(7) Extent
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‘Extent’ refers to the number of people affected by the action.
For the calculation of utility, the nature of the pleasures and
pains concerned makes no difference.
Bentham analyses the different utilities quantitatively, not
qualitatively.
In contrast, John Stuart Mill introduced a qualitative
analysis of utility.
It is plain that if you say “Colour alone is good as an end”, then you
can give no possible reason for preferring one colour to another.
Your only standard of good and bad will then be “colour” ; and since
red and blue both conform equally to this, the only standard, youcan have no other whereby to judge whether red is better than blue.
[. . .] If we do really mean “Pleasure alone is good as an end”, then
we must agree with Bentham that “Quantity of pleasure being
equal, pushpin is as good as poetry”
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The rightness of the utility principle is self-evident because it is
instilled in man by nature.
The utility principle, according to Bentham, is the sole ethical principle.
The inference of this claim to absoluteness is that all other
ethical principles must be wrong. In particular, it precludes the
existence of any human rights which could prevail over theutility principle.
According to Bentham, natural rights stem from mere wishful
thinking and hence they are nothing but rhetorical nonsense
“In proportion to the want of happiness resulting from the want ofrights, a reason exists for wishing that there were such things as rights.
But reasons for wishing there were such things as rights, are not rights;
– a reason for wishing that a certain right were established, is not a
right – want is not supply – hunger is not bread. [. . .] Natural rights is
simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptable rights, rhetoricalnonsense, – nonsense upon stilts”
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Strength and Weaknesses of Utilitarianism
Strengths of Utilitarianism:
Convincing assumptions: preference for pleasure and happiness.
Explains morality as a social extension of natural inclinations.
Transforms difficult moral deliberations into manageable empirical
considerations.
Advances flexibility over dogmatic persistence on principles. The stress
is on the practices conducive to happiness not on natural rights or
norms.
Weaknesses:
The concept of happiness is not clear. Very vague: equated either with
pleasures or with the public good.
Measurements and the units of happiness are arbitrary and subjective.
Disregard for motives and intrinsic values could lead to immoral and
unjust consequences.
The social (altruistic) component could be too demanding if pursued
strictly.
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Forms of Utilitarianism
Act and Rule Utilitarianism
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The Utility Principle and the Felicific Calculus