Utilitarianism

very brief content mind map of utilitarianism. Strenths, weaknesses or application arent included

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  • Created by: sarah
  • Created on: 18-12-12 09:14
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  • Utilitarianism
    • Mill
      • higher and lower pleasures
        • some pleasures are more desirable and valuable than others
        • "It is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied"
        • Lower- physical pleasures that animals can do also
        • Higher- human pleasures, those that stimulate the mind
          • Education allowed people to recognise and enjoy higher pleasures
            • If we educate the 'brutish majority' to experience higher ppleasures, it would end the 'brutish behaviour'
              • danger for Minority groups
      • Qualitative
      • Rule Utilitarianism
        • general overall rules bringing about happiness
        • less flexible but gives us structure to complex society
        • e.g. do not kill, bring about greatest happiness if everyone followed it
      • Thought Benthams theory was too restricted
        • Humans ans society was far more complex
        • pleasures were not equal and human nature needed to be taken into account
      • "actions are right if they promote happiness, wrong if they produce the reverse of that"
      • valued self sacrifice
        • increased happiness of others rewards self-sacrificer
        • Golden Rule is perfect example of utilitarianism
          • Happiness of others & self is paramount driving principle
    • Principle of Utility
      • max pleasure min pain
      • "Always act in such a way that you max pleasure and min pain"
      • Usefulness means happiness
    • "Greatest happiness of th greatest number"
    • Teleological
      • Consquences of action determines right/wrongness
      • Free to make own choices
        • Believe in a persons ability to reason, think and draw conclusions
    • Bentham
      • "Pushpin is of equal value to poetry, and if it furnishes more  pleasure, it is more valuable"
      • Quantitative
        • "Swine philosophy" Thomas Carlyle
      • "Happiness of everybody affected by action has to be taken into account"
        • Author recieves max satisfication
        • "Everybody is to count for one, nobody for more than one"
      • Hedonic Calculus
        • Irene Darwin Can't Read Rabbit Poetry Everyday
        • Intensity Duration Certainty Richness Remoteness Purity Extent
      • Act Utilitarianism
        • action judged by consequeces, make moral decisions according to situation and likely consquences!
        • ignore rules/laws
          • Flexible
    • Hedonism- what is good is pleasure
    • Include all sentient beings in calculations
      • Bentham calculated happiness with hedonic calculus and Mill with higher and lower pleasures
    • preference utilitarianism promotes actions that fulfill the interests (preferences) of those beings involved
      • Peter Singer
  • Bentham
    • "Pushpin is of equal value to poetry, and if it furnishes more  pleasure, it is more valuable"
    • Quantitative
      • "Swine philosophy" Thomas Carlyle
    • "Happiness of everybody affected by action has to be taken into account"
      • Author recieves max satisfication
      • "Everybody is to count for one, nobody for more than one"
    • Hedonic Calculus
      • Irene Darwin Can't Read Rabbit Poetry Everyday
      • Intensity Duration Certainty Richness Remoteness Purity Extent
    • Act Utilitarianism
      • action judged by consequeces, make moral decisions according to situation and likely consquences!
      • ignore rules/laws
        • Flexible

Comments

Rebecca :-)

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Really helpful :)

Thank you!!

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