Utilitarianism

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Utilitarianism
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Two names associated with Utilitarianism are

• Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
• John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

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Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

• Intellectually gifted from an early age
• A great legal career was expected of him
• Came across the idea of the principle of utility
  and then tried to apply this idea to all areas of
  social activity

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The principle of utility

• Whilst reading Priestleys Essay on Government
  Bentham came across the expression the greatest
  good of the greatest number and cried out, like
  Archimedes, Eureka
• He applied this principle of utility to reforming
  areas of criminal law, the jury system, prisons,
  abolition of transportation and imprisonment for
  debt, development of savings banks, cheap
  postage, registration of births and deaths

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He also believed that the dead should be of some
use to the living..

• Left his body to be dissected
• His reconstructed skeleton is now kept at
  University College, London

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A closer look at the principle of utility.
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utility

• refers to the tendency of something to produce
  happiness (not usefulness)

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So for Bentham,

• The morality of our actions should be judged in
  terms of the effect on all concerned
• i.e. whether they do or do not lead to the
  greatest happiness for the greatest number
• According to Bentham, the correct ethical
  standard is the principle of utility

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By the principle of utility is meant that
principle which approves or disapproves of every
action whatsoever, according to the tendency
which it appears to have to augment or diminish
the happiness of the party whose interest is in
question or, what is the same thing in other
words, to promote or to oppose that happiness. I
say of every action whatsoever and therefore not
only of every action of a private individual, but
of every measure of government. An Introduction
to the Principles of Morals and Legislation ed JH
Burns and HLA Hart (London and new York Methuen
1982) p 12
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An action ought to be done if, and only if, it
brings about the maximum possible happiness for
those parties affected

• Who is an affected party?
• State, community and nation are collections of
  individuals

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Utilitarianism is clearly teleological in
character
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Actions must be voluntary

• Moral responsibility depends upon genuine choice

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What if there is conflict of interest?

• What if my happiness conflicts with greater net
  happiness?
• Utilitarianism advises self-sacrifice, even to
  the point
• of death
• In which case it is all the more important to
  calculate
• happiness correctly

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Bentham was a hedonistLike Epicurus, he
believed that pleasure was the sole good and pain
was the sole evil

• If we generally accept that such things as
  honesty, affection and mercy are characteristics
  of the moral life this is not because they have
  any intrinsic value, but because they have an
  instrumental value (they are qualities that lead
  to pleasure)

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• For Bentham, an act is only right when it is
  instrumentally good and its goodness consists in
  the pleasure produced. Thus the moral worth of
  one action over against another is directly
  proportional to the amount or quality of pleasure
  (or pain) that each action brings.
• So
• For all those affected by an action, that action
  is right if it brings pleasure (or prevents
  pain), and wrong if it brings pain (or prevents
  pleasure)

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How do we assess or measure pain and pleasure?
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Bentham introduced the

• Hedonic Calculus

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Bentham wanted to devise a way of measuring
pleasure and pain

• He admits that this will be complex
• Pleasure is often mixed with pain
• How can we compare wealth with power?
• How can we compare skill with imagination?

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To a person considered by himself, the value of
a pleasure or pain considered by itself, will be
greater or less, according to the four following
circumstances1. Its intensity2. Its
duration3. Its certainty or uncertainty4. Its
propinquity or remotenessThese are the
circumstances which are to be considered in
estimating a pleasure or a pain.
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But when the value of any pleasure or pain is
considered for the purpose of estimating the
tendency of an act by which it is produced, there
are two other circumstances to be taken into
account5. It fecundity, or the chance it has
of being followed by sensations of the same
kind that is, pleasures, if it be a pleasure
pains, if it be a pain.6. Its purity, or
the chance it has of not being followed by
sensations of the opposite kind that is,
pains, if it be a pleasure pleasures, if it be
a pain. These last two, however, are in
strictness scarcely to be deemed properties of
the pleasure or pain itself they are not,
therefore, in strictness to be taken into the
account of the value of that pleasure or that
pain. They are in strictness to be deemed
properties only of the act, or other event, by
which such pleasure or pain has been produced
and accordingly are only to be taken into the
account of the tendency of such act or such event.
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To a number of persons, with reference to each of
whom the value of a pleasure or a pain is
considered, it will be greater or less, according
to seven circumstances to wit, the six preceding
onesand one otherto wit7. Its extent that
is, the number of persons to whom it
extends or (in other words) who are affected
by it.Ibid p. 38-39
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In an attempt to popularise the Hedonic Calculus,
Bentham composed the following mnemonic

• Intense, long, certain, speedy, fruitful, pure
• Such marks in pleasures and in pains endure.
• Such pleasures seek if private be thy end
• If it be public, wide let them extend.
• Such pains avoid, whichever be thy view
• If pains must come, let them extend to few.

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Apply the Hedonic Calculus to an example.

• You are a poor man and badly need a drink. An
  acquaintance who you know to be rich passes by
  and drops his wallet without noticing. You pick
  it up and find 50 inside.
• Should you return the wallet?