1. Utilitarianism
Forensics 8.6 November 14, 2014

2. Basic Insights of Utilitarianism
4/23/2017
Basic Insights of Utilitarianism
The purpose of morality is to make the world a better place.
Morality is about producing good consequences, not having good intentions
We should do whatever will bring the most benefit (i.e., intrinsic value) to all of humanity.

3. The Purpose of Morality
4/23/2017
The Purpose of Morality
The utilitarian has a very simple answer to the question of why morality exists at all:
The purpose of morality is to guide people’s actions in such a way as to produce a better world.
Consequently, the emphasis in utilitarianism is on consequences, not intentions.

4. The Emphasis on the Overall Good
4/23/2017
The Emphasis on the Overall Good
We often speak of “utilitarian” solutions in a disparaging tone, but in fact utilitarianism is a demanding moral position that often asks us to put aside self-interest for the sake of the whole.
Utilitarianism is a morally demanding position for two reasons:
It always asks us to do the most, to maximize utility, not to do the minimum.
It asks us to set aside personal interest.

5. The Dream of Utilitarianism: Bringing Scientific Certainty to Ethics
4/23/2017
The Dream of Utilitarianism: Bringing Scientific Certainty to Ethics
Utilitarianism offers us a powerful vision of the moral life, one that promises to reduce or eliminate moral disagreement.
If we can agree that the purpose of morality is to make the world a better place; and
If we can scientifically assess various possible courses of action to determine which will have the greatest positive effect on the world; then
We can provide a scientific answer to the question of what we ought to do.

6. Utilitarianism
Forensics 8.6 November 17, 2014

7. Objectives: SWBAT
Identify the difference between ACT and RULE Utilitarianism
Analyze the role of utilitarianism through a simulation

8. Act vs Rule Utilitarianism
Act utilitarianism
Looks at the consequences of each individual act and calculate utility each time the act is performed.
Rule utilitarianism
Looks at the consequences of having everyone follow a particular rule and calculates the overall utility of accepting or rejecting the rule.

9. Rule utilitarians claim:
In particular cases, act utilitarianism can justify disobeying important moral rules and violating individual rights.
Act utilitarianism also takes too much time to calculate in each and every case.
Act utilitarians respond:
Following a rule in a particular case when the overall utility demands that we violate the rule is just rule-worship. If the consequences demand it, we should violate the rule.
Furthermore, act utilitarians can follow rules-of-thumb (accumulated wisdom based on consequences in the past) most of the time and engage in individual calculation only when there is some pressing reason for doing so.

10. With a partner Determine the right thing to do in this situation:
Ruth is 94 years old and suffering from terminal cancer. While she is hooked up to machines they can keep her alive for an indefinite amount of time, though she is in a great amount of pain.
However, she is greatly loved by her family and they will be devastated when she dies.
Do you “pull the plug,” or not?

11. 4/23/2017
Intrinsic Value
Many things have instrumental value, that is, they have value as means to an end.
However, there must be some things which are not merely instrumental, but have value in themselves. This is what we call intrinsic value.
What has intrinsic value? Four principal candidates:
Pleasure
Jeremy Bentham
Happiness
John Stuart Mill
Ideals
G. E. Moore
Preferences
Kenneth Arrow

12. Jeremy Bentham 1748-1832 British philosopher and social reformer
4/23/2017
Jeremy Bentham
British philosopher and social reformer
Called for an end to slavery
Women’s rights
Property ownership
Right to divorce
Separation of Church and State
Bentham believed that we should try to increase the overall amount of pleasure in the world.

13. 4/23/2017
Pleasure
Criticisms
Came to be known as “the pig’s philosophy”
Ignores higher values
Could justify living on a pleasure machine
Definition: The enjoyable feeling we experience when a state of deprivation is replaced by fulfillment.
Advantages
Easy to quantify
Short duration

14. Hedonism A view on value, goodness v badness Core
The only thing that is intrinsically good is pleasure
The only thing that is intrinsically bad is pain
All things lead to either pleasure or pain
Pleasure and pain come in episodes
The experiences had by a person at a particular time
Each episode can be has an amount of good/ bad that can be quantified

15. Hedonism A hedon = a standard unit of pleasure
A dolor = a standard unit of pain
The intensity of pleasure x the duration = # hedons
The intensity of the pain x the duration = #dolors
If a one minute massage creates 1 hedon, then a five minute massage creates 5 hedons

16. Consequentialism
The view that right/ wrongness is determined solely by the consequences
Act Consequentialism
An act is only right if there is no other act a person could perform that would bring about better consequences
Bentham’s view is all about summing the total hedons and dolors created
Total Hedonic Value

17. Consequentialism formulation
Act X performed by person P at time T is right if and only if there is no act that P could perform at T that would have better consequences than X
The act is right if and only if there is no alternative that would bring about a greater sum of pleasure over pain

18. HUA Examples
Darrell has a choice: take his exam, blow it off and take a trip with his friends
Trip
Exam
Hedons
Party with friends
(100 hedons)
Make friends happy
(500)
Life experience (200)
Gets a good grade on test (100)
Graduates with honors (1000)
Gets good job, more money ( )
Dolors
Flunks exam (500 dolors)
Misses out on advanced degree (10 000)
Disappoints parents (100)
Has to take exam ( 100)
Friends sad (500)
Cramps from writing essays (50)
Boring as hell (300)
Total Hedonic Value
-1000
100,150

19. John Stuart Mill 1806-1873 Bentham’s godson
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Bentham’s godson
Believed that happiness, not pleasure, should be the standard of utility.
"greatest-happiness principle"
One must always act so as to produce the greatest aggregate happiness among all sentient beings, within reason.
Bentham treats all pleasures as equal – Mill states that there are higher and lower pleasures.

20. Happiness Advantages Disadvantages
4/23/2017
Happiness
Advantages
A higher standard, more specific to humans
About realization of goals
Disadvantages
More difficult to measure
Competing conceptions of happiness

21. 4/23/2017
Ideal Values
G. E. Moore suggested that we should strive to maximize ideal values such as freedom, knowledge, justice, and beauty.
The world may not be a better place with more pleasure in it, but it certainly will be a better place with more freedom, more knowledge, more justice, and more beauty.
Moore’s candidates for intrinsic good remain difficult to quantify.
G. E. Moore

22. Preferences Pluralistic
4/23/2017
Preferences
Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel Prize winning Stanford economist, argued that what has intrinsic value is preference satisfaction.
The advantage of Arrow’s approach is that, in effect, it lets people choose for themselves what has intrinsic value. It simply defines intrinsic value as whatever satisfies an agent’s preferences.
Pluralistic

23. Objectives: SWBAT Identify key criticisms of utilitarian thought
Analyze the utilitarian applications in modern law

24. Utilitarianism – Criticism
Forensics 8.6 April 28, 2014

25. Criticism of Utilitarian Thought
Responsibility
Integrity
Intentions
Moral Luck
Who does the calculating?
Who is included?

26. Responsibility
Utilitarianism suggests that we are responsible for all the consequences of our choices
Impossible to foresee ALL the consequences of other people’s actions as they respond to our own?
Terrorists threaten to kill hostages unless demands met, the demands aren’t met, the hostages are killed.
Is the government responsible for the death of the hostages?

27. Integrity Utilitarianism often demands we put aside self- interest
Sometimes this means putting aside moral convictions
Obama and the NSA wire-tapping
Legalization of prostitution
Utilitarian thought may result in going against one’s moral core

28. Intentions and moral luck
Utilitarianism is only concerned about results, not intentions
This means that sometimes we “luck into” the morally right decision
Could have the worst intentions in the world and accidently do the right thing
Could have the best intentions in the world and end up hurting many

29. Who does the calculating?
Impact calculus can depend largely on who is doing the calculation
Your parents, teachers, guardians, and government are doing what they feel is right
You can disagree
They have the power – so they are right.
Utilitarianism favors those with power already

30. Who is included?
When considering consequences who is included in the calculation?
Myself? (egoism)
My group? (group egoism)
Those of my country/ people? (patriotism/ nationalism)
Those that share my skin color? (racism)
All human beings? (speciesism)
Depending on who is included can have a massive impact on the ethics of a decision