Utilitarianism - Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham was named the 'father' of Utilitarianism due to his rational and scientific approach to ethics. He tried to improve human life and make it more equal, shown through his invention of the panopticon design in prisons. He lived through the Industrial Revolution which was named the 'Period of Enlightenment', allowing people like Bentham to understand our world better due to science.

He too had a hedonic perspective, by understanding that pleasure is complete goodness. Pleasure and pain were the two main actions of mankind.

Bentham's theory can be divided into 3 parts:

1) Motivation - his view on what drove humans and what goodness and badness was about

2) 'The Principle of Utility' states that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong. This was Bentham's fundamental belief.
A problem with this is that saving the majority is the same mentality as genocide: getting rid of the minority to save the majority. Michael Sandel's example explores this (killing 1 person or 5 people, making yourself responsible or not by controlling the cart).
Duddeley and Stevens' case tests this. 

• Case in 19th century England
• 4 men on a shipwreck
• After days of starvation and dehydration, Duddeley and Stevens kill Parker, the 17 year old boy.
• Brooks was against this murder and so wasn't put on trial.

D + S where morally right: 

• What is moral isn't always legal, but of human necessity
• Parker gave consent
• They weren't in their proper state of mind

D + S where morally wrong:

• There is no situation that humans can take life into their own hands --> Love Your Neighbour
• They persuaded Parker to give consent
• Their lives weren't more valuable than Parker's

3) The Hedonic Calculus 

...or felicific (latin for happy) calculus is a scientific way of approaching morality. It is a way of measuring the pleasure and pain in an action, concerning the consequences, so that Act Utilitarians can make moral choices. The calculus measures seven aspects:

• 1) Intensity - If it is intense then you can distinguish it more
• 2) Duration 
• 3) Certainty/uncertainty -The probability that pleasure/pain will occur
• 4) Propinquity - How near/far the in the future the pleasure/pain is
• 5) Fecundity - The probability of the pleasure leading to other pleasures 
• 6) Purity - The probability of the pleasure leading to other pains
• 7) Extent - How many people are affected by the action? Is it the greatest good for the greatest number?

Strengths

• Intuitively Correct - Common sense shows that not all situations are identical and need different approaches
• Cultural Diversity - Takes into account that each culture operates equally and in parallel to eachother without one being considered more superior than the other
• Humanistic - Seeking to maximise human good is the basis, so it is ground in humanity and doesn't seek authority from another source
• Yard Stick - Bentham created the calculus as a method of social reform. It tests the law for its utility for humanity.
• It has the potential to justify any action

Weaknesses

• Involves subjective thinking therefore can't be applicable to every singe person
• Can be compared to Divine Command Ethics as it tells people what to do without questioning
• Ticking Bomb scenario - It is impractical to suggest that we have time to deliberate and use the calculus to every situation, especially when one does not have all the information
• Doesn't acknowledge the difference between humans and animals, making humans seem animalistic
• Doctrine of Negative Responsibility - We are responsible for the consequences of our actions. Sometimes we choose to act and sometimes we choose not to. Either way, the action will have consequences. Hannah Arendt states that the 'banality of evil', e.g. the Germans who didn't act are bigger culprits for the holocaust, explains how we are just as responsible for the foreseeable consequences that we fail to prevent as for those that we bring out directly.

Act Utilitarianism 

'The Singular Nature of Pleasure' states that all different kinds of pleasure are of equal value when they are equal in quantity. Bentham said that the "quantity of pleasure being equal, pushpin (child's game) is as good as poetry". Here Bentham focuses on everyone. He tried to reform the inequality between the aristocrats and the working class.

Utilitarianism - Epicurus

Epicurus was a Roman philosopher that lived from 341 - 270 BCE. He wrote The Principle Doctrines of Epicureanism and was the founder of the school of Epicureanism.

The Principle Doctrines of Epicureanism

• Everything that is good is pleasure, and this is the criteria which we should use to judge everything. 
• The central goal of life is pleasure, and this is immediately recognised from birth. 
• The absence of pain is the greatest pleasure, which is what makes Epicureanism different from Hedonism. 
• Mental pleasures are superior to physical pleasures as your mind has the capacity to enjoy the past, present and future. 
• Everyone can access pleasure equally.
• Happiness depends on friendship.
• Peace of mind is more important than social or financial success.
• The first doctrine says "A blessed and indestructible being (God(s))...brings no trouble upon another being", meaning that Gods in this polytheistic philosophy don't get pleasure from being concerned with humans, so determinism is wrong. This was a very controversial statement at the time (around 300 BCE) as it stated that religion doesn't bring pleasure. This brought violent reactions, including Alexander the Oracle burning the doctrines in a public place and throwing them into the sea. 

Utilitarianism - Hedonism

Utilitarianism is a part of normative ethics, which originates from ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, where it examines the process in which people make moral decisions. It comes under the umbrella of deontological ethics. 

• Teleological ethics comes from the Greek word 'telos', meaning purpose. Consequentialists base their judgements on what actions are right or wrong depending on the purpose of the act.
• Even if the act is intrinsically good, this is irrelevant as it is only the consequence of the action that matters. 

The basis of Utilitarianism is Hedonism. Hedonism is the theory that the right, good thing to do in all ethical situations is to do what produces pleasure, and the definition of goodness and the source of everyone else's goodness is pleasure. Nothing else is intrinsically valuable except pleasure.

Egotistical Hedonism explains how we should always act in a way that maximises our pleasure. It focuses on the short term pleasure. It is more commonly used in a descriptive way (making morally neutral statements e.g. slavery exists), rather than in a prescriptive way (making moral standards e.g. slavery ought not to exist). 

       Issues with Prescriptive Egotistical Hedonism

- Altruism (doing something for others brings pleasure)

- Hedonistic fallacy (actively pursuing your pleasure isn't necessarily the best way of producing it)

- 'The Experience Machine' by Robert Nozick.

• A metaphor which tailors to everyone's pleasure, and one gets more pleasure in plugging into it than not
• If one gets more pleasure from doing x than y, then there is no point in doing y.
• If all that matters is to experience pleasure, then we have no reason not to plug into the machine.
• The fact that we do have reason not to plug into the machine shows that pleasure is not everything that matters. Reasons include: engaging in the machine makes pleasure limited and we take pleasure from doing certain things instead of just experiencing them.