Utilitarianism 

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  • Created by: _alf24
  • Created on: 29-04-14 15:53
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  • Utilitarianism
    • Act
      • Jeremy Bentham
        • Hedonic Calculus
          • Intensity
          • Remoteness
          • Richness
          • Purity
          • Duration
          • Extent
          • Certainty
        • "Nature has placed us under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure"
        • Rule of thumb can be used
        • The greatest good for the greatest number
        • Maximise pleasure and minimise pain
      • Quantitative
      • Henry Sidgwick
        • Questions Mill's higher and lower pleasures
        • Concerned with justice in society
        • Balance of pleasure over pain is the ultimate good
      • No necessarily moral rules, only to seek the greatest happiness for the greatest number
      • Strengths
        • Everybody is treated the same
        • Provides a practical decision making method
        • Focuses of the well-being of a human
        • Importance of consequences is considered
      • Weaknesses
        • We can't always know the consequences
        • Greatest good could meant that gang **** is fine
        • Assumes all forms of pleasure are the same
        • Motives dont matter
    • Preference
      • Peter Singer
        • We should take the viewpoint of an impartial spectator
        • Everyone is equal
        • Our own preferences cannot count any more than preferences for others
      • R.M Hare
        • We need to "stand in someone else's shoes"
        • In favor of universalisability
        • We need to consider our own preferences and those of others
      • Based on the preferences of all those involved
      • Strengths
        • Considering preferences removes some of the injustice like in act
        • It includes non-human animals
      • Weaknesses
        • Impossible to know everyone's preferences
        • What about the minorities preferences
        • Is there even a difference between preference satisfaction and happiness?
    • Rule
      • Weak rule
        • Try and use rules but can vary depending on situation
        • Some would argue that weak rule is just act utilitarianism
      • Strong rule
        • Strict rules that should always be obeyed
      • Qualitative
      • John Stuart Mill
        • Higher pleasures
          • Fine Dining
          • Reading
          • Opera
        • Lower pleasures
          • Eating
          • Sex
        • "It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied that a fool satisfied, better to be a man dissatisfied than a pig satisfied"
        • Universalisability
          • The greatest happiness for everyone
        • The greatest happiness for the greatest number

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