Docsity
Log inSign up
Docsity
Prepare for your exams
Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity

Earn points to download
Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan

Guidelines and tips
Guidelines and tips
Sell on Docsity
Sell on Docsity
Docsity AI
Docsity AI
Log inSign up

Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity

Find documents

Prepare for your exams with the study notes shared by other students like you on Docsity

Search for your university

Find the specific documents for your university's exams

Docsity AINEW

Summarize your documents, ask them questions, convert them into quizzes and concept maps

Explore questions

Clear up your doubts by reading the answers to questions asked by your fellow students

Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan

Share documents
download point icon20 Points

For each uploaded document

Answer questions
download point icon5 Points

For each given answer (max 1 per day)

All the ways to get free points
Get points immediately

Choose a premium plan with all the points you need

Study Opportunities

Choose your next study program

Get in touch with the best universities in the world. Search through thousands of universities and official partners

Community

Ask the community

Ask the community for help and clear up your study doubts

Free resources

Our save-the-student-ebooks!

Download our free guides on studying techniques, anxiety management strategies, and thesis advice from Docsity tutors

John Stuart Mill and Utilitarianism: The Pursuit of Happiness and Morality - Prof. Rosa Ma, Study notes of Ethics

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)Ethics
Prof. Rosa Maria Mayorga

The life and works of john stuart mill, a prominent english philosopher and economist, who is best known for his contributions to utilitarianism. Mill's utilitarian theory, which emphasizes the pursuit of happiness and the greatest good for the greatest number, is discussed in detail. Mill's ideas on pleasure, pain, impartiality, and the role of morality in promoting happiness.

Typology: Study notes

Pre 2010

Uploaded on 12/08/2008

davidle
davidle 🇺🇸

1 document

1 / 6

Toggle sidebar

This page cannot be seen from the preview

Don't miss anything!

bg1
Quiz 4 Material: UTILITARIANISM
A new nation with a new kind of constitution is born with the signing of the
Declaration of the Independence.
French revolution and the demise of the Napoleonic Empire reinforced the ideas of
liberty, equality, fraternity for all men
Industrial Revolution was a dramatic change in the nature of production in which
machines replaced tools, steam and other energy sources replaced human or animal
power, and skilled workers were replaced with mostly unskilled workers.
(Eupope/England)
oCreated metal things > before only blacksmiths did them
oChildren put to work in factories > buy orphans to have as laborers
(indentured servants)
Jeremy Bentham
Father of modern Utilitarianism (Lawyer)
1748-1832
Crippled people worked at these factories, and killed
Social reforms activist > factories, everyone has right to vote (property should not be
prereq. To vote)
“The happiness of individuals, of whom a community is composed, that is their
pleasures and their security, is the end and the sole end which the legislator ought to
have in view.”
Questioned > old ethical theories
Morality should not be matter in pleasing God, nor being faithful to certain abstract
moral rules.
oBasis, nothing more and nothing less then the attempt to bring about the most
happiness for everyone
oNo references to morality being tied to religion, no references to moral
abstract rules of conscience
What determines if something is right or wrong > amount of pleasure or pain action
causes
oJohn Stuart Mill > follower
What law should do, legislator, law maker should do when he makes up laws.
oOld Greek idea, law and morality related
Purpose of law is to promote general welfare of individuals
What counts is not individual happiness but happiness of all sentient beings.
All pleasures are equal
In deciding which moral action to take, we need only measure total amount of
pleasure and total amount of pain in alternatives, and the choose the one with greatest
net pleasure
Thought humans not only feeling pleasure and pain > but animals as well
Scenscious > feelings
Mill thinks there are different kinds of pleasure > higher and lower pleasures
Every individual being counts > as much as everyone else < needs to be factored in
when decisions are made
pf3
pf4
pf5

Partial preview of the text

Download John Stuart Mill and Utilitarianism: The Pursuit of Happiness and Morality - Prof. Rosa Ma and more Study notes Ethics in PDF only on Docsity!

Quiz 4 Material: UTILITARIANISM  A new nation with a new kind of constitution is born with the signing of the Declaration of the Independence.  French revolution and the demise of the Napoleonic Empire reinforced the ideas of liberty, equality, fraternity for all men  Industrial Revolution was a dramatic change in the nature of production in which machines replaced tools, steam and other energy sources replaced human or animal power, and skilled workers were replaced with mostly unskilled workers. (Eupope/England) o Created metal things > before only blacksmiths did them o Children put to work in factories > buy orphans to have as laborers (indentured servants) Jeremy Bentham  Father of modern Utilitarianism (Lawyer)  1748-  Crippled people worked at these factories, and killed  Social reforms activist > factories, everyone has right to vote (property should not be prereq. To vote)  “The happiness of individuals, of whom a community is composed, that is their pleasures and their security, is the end and the sole end which the legislator ought to have in view.”  Questioned > old ethical theories  Morality should not be matter in pleasing God, nor being faithful to certain abstract moral rules. o Basis, nothing more and nothing less then the attempt to bring about the most happiness for everyone o No references to morality being tied to religion, no references to moral abstract rules of conscience  What determines if something is right or wrong > amount of pleasure or pain action causes o John Stuart Mill > follower  What law should do, legislator, law maker should do when he makes up laws. o Old Greek idea, law and morality related  Purpose of law is to promote general welfare of individuals  What counts is not individual happiness but happiness of all sentient beings.  All pleasures are equal  In deciding which moral action to take, we need only measure total amount of pleasure and total amount of pain in alternatives, and the choose the one with greatest net pleasure  Thought humans not only feeling pleasure and pain > but animals as well  Scenscious > feelings  Mill thinks there are different kinds of pleasure > higher and lower pleasures  Every individual being counts > as much as everyone else < needs to be factored in when decisions are made

o Moral/Right > action that causes net pleasure, for the greatest number of beings o “The question is not, can they reason? Nor can they talk? But, can they suffer” o What matters is not whether a being has a soul, or is rational, but rather whether he is capable of experiencing pleasure, pain.  If can feel pain then it counts. Should I act in this way?  Utilitarian theory: o Happiness is synonymous with pleasure and unhappiness with pain (hedonistic utilitarianism) > hedonisim > greeks > idea that the only good that there is happiness, or pleasure o Actions are right to the extent that they promote happiness and wrong to the extent that they promote pain o What counts is not individual happiness but happiness of all sentient beings o What is good is not always right, or what is right doesn’t always feel good. o What makes something right > promotes pleasure  Basic Claims of Utilitarian theory: o Morality of an action is determined solely by its consequences o The desire for happiness is universal and is the greatest good  Utilitarian Guidelines for deciding moral issues: o Determine who will be affected o Look at the possible consequences o Maximize happiness o Minimize pain JOHN STUART MILL (1806-73)  Friend of Bantam  Reformulated utilitarianism  Principle of Utility (Greatest Happiness Principle) o “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of unhappiness”  The greatest happiness Principle is now known as classical (Hedonistic) Utilitarianism. It consists of three independent claims: o Consquentialism: what makes an action right or wrong are nothing but its effects o Impartiality: the interests of any being are just as important as the same interests of any other being o Hedonism: pleasure and the absence of pain are the only things with intrinsic factors  “the happiness which forms the utilitarian standard of what is right in conduct, is not the agent’s own happiness, but that of all concerned. As between his own happiness and that of others, utilitarianism requires him to be as strictly impartial as a disinterested and benevolent spectator” o have to be impartial  Mill’s thinking about morality begins with the concept of happiness. o Mill defines happiness as: pleasure and the absence of pain

 Everyone should be plugged into experienced machine > if indeed taking drugs makes people happy then people should do it > if you question that then there is a problem with hedonistic utilitarianism  PROBLEMS o Modern Utilitarianism: the right thing to do is that which most increases the welfare of general well-being of all those who will be affected. (broader category)  Like classical, modern Utilitarianism consists of three separate ideas combined into one: o Consequentially o Impartiality o An emphasis on making people better off  2. preference utilitarianism o maximize degree to which people get their preferences satisfied.  Solves problem of experience machine, what is right maximizes people’s preferences o Example: apple and oranges o What maximizes the majorities PREFERENCES.  Who will be affected?  Vote to see who has preferences, can we vote to measure?  More specific, but still is not efficient way to determine utilitarianism  Maximize degree to which people get their preferences satisfied  Lonesome stranger (justice problem) o Utilitarianism > not good account of justice.  Killers preferences will not be maximizes, but sheriff and people in town will be maximize  Bare false witness to lonesome stranger  Problem > goes against moral common sense > just thing to do is to punish the guilty and not punish the innocent  Utilitarianism > this is the right thing to do o Peeping Tom (Rights) Problem  Woman doesn’t know so doesn’t affect her  Maximizes peeping tom’s preferences > is it right to continue?  Yes, affects woman and man > woman doesn’t know she is not affected, and not caused any pain, man is gaining enormous amount of man being satisfied.  Woman’s right is being infringed upon o Act vs. Rule Utilitarianism  Act: Individual actions  Rule: Kinds of Actions o Example: R1: “Punish the innocent when convenient” – act  R2: “never punish the innocent” – rule  R3: “Don’t punish the innocent except when can maximize utility”  Needs to act upon general rules o What kind of general rule of conduct maximizes people’s preferences

o Rule Utilitarianism  Would not have good reason to frame the lonesome stranger  General rule would be can’t falsely accuse innocent  Utilitarianism does not have an answer for “ don’t punish the innocent except when can maximize utility”  Equating what is right and wrong with the consequence  Mill’s reformulation o Private Actions – affect just yourself o Public actions – affect others as well as yourself o Ex. “fanatical majority” o Make room for certain rights within system like utilitarianism o Making people join one religion > makes everyone join this majority religion > does mill distinction private and public action make room for rights within this culture? o PREFERENCE UTILITARIANS  No religious tolerance o Law should not get involved > they see it as insult when people do not believe in same religion o Liberal: Private and public does work > public has to conform to majority

does not work in fanatical societies o Dirty Hands problem  Every person has a certain amount of integrity  What are the consequences of deciding not to take the job?  Common moral sense is personal integrity  Does it make room for personal integrity? No. Doesn’t matter if you take job or not, consequences are the same. o Drowning Child Problem  Feminist care: natural caring is what occurs > therefore ethics should be on caring  Cannot explain special explanation of parents have of their children  Two children growing > one is yours the other is not. > which one do you save? > parents have special obligation towards your own child.  Utilitarianism > cannot explain special relationships towards their family. o Starving Poor problem  To demanding  What’s right is for the general welfare > maximizes preferences for most  Are we obligated to give away stuff to support others  Utilitarianism > tells us to do this > what is right is what promotes the general  Hedonistic – Experience Machine (Autonomy)  Preference- Applies & oranges (comparison) o Lonesome stranger (justice)