Utilitarianism
- Created by: Samio
- Created on: 12-01-16 22:28
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- Utilitarianism
- Jeremy Bentham - Act Utilitarianism
- The Hedonic Calculus: Takes into account the purity, richness, remoteness, intensity, certainty, extent and duration of the pleasures
- The Principle of Utility: Moral actions are those which create the 'greatest happiness for the greatest number'
- No inherent justice: Doesn't rule out abhorrent acts and allows for 'tyranny of the majority'
- Psychological Hedonism - The claim that humans seek pleasure and shun pain, fundamental to Utilitarianism
- Founded in the UK in the 18th century
- Karl Popper - Negative Utilitarianism
- 'Reductio ad absurdum' - To destroy the world would effectively remove suffering
- Prioritises minimising suffering over maximising happiness
- Less 'trivial' approach to morality
- Peter Singer - Preference Utilitarianism
- Based on preference over happiness
- Claims we should take into account the preferences of all living beings
- Claims that prioiritising a human without sentience over a healthy chimpanzee is 'speciesist'
- John Stuart Mill - Rule Utilitarianism
- Competent Judges: Those who have experienced both higher and lower pleasures and would naturally prefer higher pleasures.
- Strong Rule (rules can't be broken) vs weak rule (rules can be broken) - Strong rule is somewhat deontological
- Qualitative approach - Higher pleasures (e.g going to the opera) are more important than lower pleasures (e.g having sex)
- Jeremy Bentham - Act Utilitarianism
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