Jeremy Bentham's Act Utilitarianism
- Created by: EspeciallySparky
- Created on: 18-05-16 15:22
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- Act Utilitarianism
- Why was it developed?
- Promote happiness
- Bentham made the empirical observation that people avoid pain and seek pleasure.
- Jeremy Bentham
- Social issues at the time, e.g. women's rights.
- Hedonic Calculus
- Duration - How long it lasts.
- Richness - How likely it is to lead to further happiness.
- Intensity - how intense the pleasure is.
- Purity - How free from pain the outcome is.
- Certainty - how certain you are the pleasure will occur.
- Remoteness- how far away in time it is
- Extent - how many people feel happy. (How many hedons are produced).
- Used to find which action will best serve the principle of utility.
- Principle of Utility
- "The greatest happiness for the greatest number"
- The final aim of any good action
- The only rule in Act Utilitarianism is that an action must serve the principle.
- Type of theory
- Teleological - it is concerned with the end goal of an action.
- Consequential -makes moral judgements according to the consequences of an action.
- Relativistic - no universal moral norms, and each situation is considered individually.
- Important quotes.
- "the game of push-pin is equal to the arts and sciences of music and poetry."
- "Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters - pain and pleasure."
- "Every law is an infraction of liberty."
- Remember - Bentham considered all pleasure equal.
- Advantages
- Makes people consider the end results of each action they make.
- The hedonic calculus encourages people to think deeply before acting.
- More happiness is a is universally considered a good thing, so it can be accepted across many cultures.
- Disadvantages
- Easily manipulated to allow immoral actions to occur.
- Judging all pleasures equal can lead to people justifying a halt in advancement.
- If playing video games is equal in pleasure to getting good GCSE results, it is possible to prioritise playing them instead of revising.
- It jeopardises the minority (which can be anywhere up to 49%) to please the majority.
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- Why was it developed?
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