UTILITARIANISM

Forensics 8.6 November 14, 2014

Basic Insights of Utilitarianism

The purpose of morality is to make the world a better place.

Morality is about producing good consequences, not having good intentions

We should do whatever will bring the most benefit (i.e., intrinsic value) to all of humanity.

The Purpose of Morality

The utilitarian has a very simple answer to the question of why morality exists at all:

The purpose of morality is to guide people’s actions in such a way as to produce a better world.

Consequently, the emphasis in utilitarianism is on consequences, not intentions.

The Emphasis on the Overall Good

We often speak of “utilitarian” solutions in a disparaging tone, but in fact utilitarianism is a demanding moral position that often asks us to put aside self-interest for the sake of the whole.

Utilitarianism is a morally demanding position for two reasons: It always asks us to do the most, to maximize

utility, not to do the minimum. It asks us to set aside personal interest.

The Dream of Utilitarianism:Bringing Scientific Certainty to Ethics

Utilitarianism offers us a powerful vision of the moral life, one that promises to reduce or eliminate moral disagreement.

If we can agree that the purpose of morality is to make the world a better place; and

If we can scientifically assess various possible courses of action to determine which will have the greatest positive effect on the world; then

We can provide a scientific answer to the question of what we ought to do.

UTILITARIANISM

Forensics 8.6 November 17, 2014

Objectives: SWBAT

Identify the difference between ACT and RULE Utilitarianism

Analyze the role of utilitarianism through a simulation

Act vs Rule Utilitarianism

Act utilitarianism Looks at the consequences of each

individual act and calculate utility each time the act is performed.

Rule utilitarianism Looks at the consequences of having

everyone follow a particular rule and calculates the overall utility of accepting or rejecting the rule.

Rule utilitarians claim: In particular cases, act utilitarianism can justify

disobeying important moral rules and violating individual rights.

Act utilitarianism also takes too much time to calculate in each and every case.

Act utilitarians respond: Following a rule in a particular case when the overall

utility demands that we violate the rule is just rule-worship. If the consequences demand it, we should violate the rule.

Furthermore, act utilitarians can follow rules-of-thumb (accumulated wisdom based on consequences in the past) most of the time and engage in individual calculation only when there is some pressing reason for doing so.

With a partner

Determine the right thing to do in this situation:

Ruth is 94 years old and suffering from terminal cancer. While she is hooked up to machines they can keep her alive for an indefinite amount of time, though she is in a great amount of pain.

However, she is greatly loved by her family and they will be devastated when she dies.

Do you “pull the plug,” or not?

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Intrinsic Value

Many things have instrumental value, that is, they have value as means to an end.

However, there must be some things which are not merely instrumental, but have value in themselves. This is what we call intrinsic value.

What has intrinsic value? Four principal candidates: Pleasure

Jeremy Bentham Happiness

John Stuart Mill Ideals

G. E. Moore Preferences

Kenneth Arrow

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Jeremy Bentham1748-1832

British philosopher and social reformer Called for an end to slavery Women’s rights

Property ownership Right to divorce

Separation of Church and State

Bentham believed that we should try to increase the overall amount of pleasure in the world.

Pleasure

Definition: The enjoyable feeling we experience when a state of deprivation is replaced by fulfillment.

Advantages Easy to quantify Short duration

Criticisms Came to be

known as “the pig’s philosophy”

Ignores higher values

Could justify living on a pleasure machine

Hedonism

A view on value, goodness v badness Core

The only thing that is intrinsically good is pleasure The only thing that is intrinsically bad is pain All things lead to either pleasure

or pain Pleasure and pain come in episodes

The experiences had by a person at a particular time

Each episode can be has an amount of good/ bad that can be quantified

Hedonism

A hedon = a standard unit of pleasure A dolor = a standard unit of pain

The intensity of pleasure x the duration = # hedons

The intensity of the pain x the duration = #dolors

If a one minute massage creates 1 hedon, then a five minute massage creates 5 hedons

Consequentialism

The view that right/ wrongness is determined solely by the consequences

Act Consequentialism An act is only right if there is no other act

a person could perform that would bring about better consequences

Bentham’s view is all about summing the total hedons and dolors created Total Hedonic Value

Consequentialism

formulation Act X performed by person P at time T is

right if and only if there is no act that P could perform at T that would have better consequences than X

The act is right if and only if there is no alternative that would bring about a greater sum of pleasure over pain

HUA Examples

Darrell has a choice: take his exam, blow it off and take a trip with his friends

Trip Exam

Hedons Party with friends(100 hedons) Make friends happy(500) Life experience (200)

Gets a good grade on test (100) Graduates with honors (1000)Gets good job, more money (100 000)

Dolors Flunks exam (500 dolors)Misses out on advanced degree (10 000) Disappoints parents (100)

Has to take exam ( 100)Friends sad (500)Cramps from writing essays (50)Boring as hell (300)

Total Hedonic Value

-1000 100,150

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John Stuart Mill1806-1873

Bentham’s godson Believed that happiness,

not pleasure, should be the standard of utility.

"greatest-happiness principle" One must always act so as to produce the

greatest aggregate happiness among all sentient beings, within reason.

Happiness

Advantages A higher standard, more specific to humans About realization of goals

Disadvantages More difficult to

measure Competing

conceptions of happiness

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Ideal Values

G. E. Moore suggested that we should strive to maximize ideal values such as freedom, knowledge, justice, and beauty.

The world may not be a better place with more pleasure in it, but it certainly will be a better place with more freedom, more knowledge, more justice, and more beauty.

Moore’s candidates for intrinsic good remain difficult to quantify.G. E. Moore

1873-1958

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Preferences Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel Prize

winning Stanford economist, argued that what has intrinsic value is preference satisfaction.

The advantage of Arrow’s approach is that, in effect, it lets people choose for themselves what has intrinsic value. It simply defines intrinsic value as whatever satisfies an agent’s preferences. Pluralistic

Objectives: SWBAT

Identify key criticisms of utilitarian thought

Analyze the utilitarian applications in modern law

UTILITARIANISM – CRITICISM

Forensics 8.6 April 28, 2014

Criticism of Utilitarian Thought Responsibility Integrity Intentions Moral Luck Who does the calculating? Who is included?

Responsibility

Utilitarianism suggests that we are responsible for all the consequences of our choices Impossible to foresee

ALL the consequences of other people’s actions as they respond to our own? Terrorists threaten to kill

hostages unless demands met, the demands aren’t met, the hostages are killed.

Is the government responsible for the death of the hostages?

Integrity

Utilitarianism often demands we put aside self-interest Sometimes this means putting aside moral

convictions Obama and the NSA wire-tapping Legalization of

prostitution Utilitarian thought

may result in going against one’s moral core

Intentions and moral luck

Utilitarianism is only concerned about results, not intentions

This means that sometimes we “luck into” the morally right decision Could have the worst intentions in the

world and accidently do the right thing Could have the best intentions in the world

and end up hurting many

Who does the calculating?

Impact calculus can depend largely on who is doing the calculation Your parents, teachers, guardians, and

government are doing what they feel is right

You can disagree They have the power – so they are right.

Utilitarianism favors those with power already

Who is included?

When considering consequences who is included in the calculation? Myself? (egoism) My group? (group egoism) Those of my country/ people? (patriotism/

nationalism) Those that share my skin color? (racism) All human beings? (speciesism)

Depending on who is included can have a massive impact on the ethics of a decision