1. Introduction to Ethical Theory
Jeremy Bentham’s “An Introduction to the Principles of Morals & Legislation”
Introduction to Ethical Theory
Phil 240, Week 3, Lecture 4
SUM2013, M-F, 10:50-11:50, SAV136
Instructor: Ben Hole

2. Please set your Turning Technology Clicker to channel 41
Press “Ch”, then “41”, then “Ch”

3. Discussion Question
Suppose you had the opportunity to have someone else make all of your decisions for you for the rest of your life. Suppose further that this person knows you so incredibly well that her decisions are guaranteed to make you happier in the long term than you would be if you made your own decisions. Would you accept such an arrangement? Why or why not? What does this case tell us about the plausibility of hedonism?
Truman Show example

4. Strongly Agree Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Disagree
Suppose you had the opportunity to have someone else make all of your decisions for you for the rest of your life. Suppose further that this person knows you so incredibly well that her decisions are guaranteed to make you happier in the long term than you would be if you made your own decisions. You would accept such an arrangement.
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

5. Bentham vs. Kant Heteronomy
Bentham’s source of moral salience: sentience
Autonomy
Kant’s source of moral salience: agency

6. Agenda
Clicker Quiz
Bentham: Review and Criticism

7. 1. According to Bentham, considerations of pain and pleasure determine:
what we ought to do.
what we will do.
both a and b.
neither a nor b.

8. Physical Religious Political Psychological All the above
2. Which of the following is not one of the four sources of pleasure and pain that Bentham discusses?
Physical
Religious
Political
Psychological
All the above
None of the above

9. Certainty or uncertainty All of the above None of the above
3. Bentham claims that pleasures and pains can be greater or less according to their:
Intensity
Duration
Certainty or uncertainty
All of the above
None of the above

10. Bentham’s principle of utility
“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.”

11. Four sources of pain and pleasure
Physical: Arising from the ordinary course of nature, not from any human action.
Political: Arising from the actions of some judge.
Moral: Arising from persons in the community.
Religious: Arising from the hand of a “superior invisible being.” 11

12. How do we decide what to do?
We can calculate a number attached to the pain or pleasure of any given option. Bentham gives us a felicific calculus:
“To a number of persons, with reference to each of whom to 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 ones; viz.
1. Its intensity.
2. Its duration.
3. Its certainty or uncertainty.
4. Its propinquity or remoteness.
5. Its fecundity.
6. Its purity. And one other; to wit:
7. Its extent; that is, the number of persons to whom it extends; or (in other words) who are affected by it”
Calculable. Trying to do a science of ethics. The util.

13. Measuring Pain and Pleasure
Pains and pleasures differ in
Duration
Intensity
Certainty or uncertainty
Propinquity or remoteness
Fecundity (likelihood of bringing about sensations of the same kind)
Purity (likelihood of bringing about sensations of the opposite kind) 13

14. How do we decide what to do?
We can calculate a number attached to the pain or pleasure of any given option. Bentham gives us a felicific calculus:
“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.”
Calculable. Trying to do a science of ethics. The util.

15. Strongly Agree Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Disagree
UTILITARIANISM: “An act is right if and only if (and because) it would (if performed) likely produce at least as high a utility (net overall balance of welfare) as would any other alternative action one might perform instead” (Timmons, 8).
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

16. Features of Bentham’s Utilitarianism
Review
Features of Bentham’s Utilitarianism

17. Features of Bentham’s utilitarianism
(1) Value is a sensation; all the things we value are, in fact, reducible to sensory experience.

18. Features of Bentham’s utilitarianism
(1) Value is a sensation; all the things we value are, in fact, reducible to sensory experience.
Reductionism
Fetishism Argument

19. If the Robot is not sentient (i. e
If the Robot is not sentient (i.e., does not experience mental states), then she cannot be happy.
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

20. Value is a sensation; all the things we value are, in fact, reducible to sensory experience.
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

21. Features of Bentham’s utilitarianism
(2) Pleasures are homogeneous with respect to value.

22. Features of Bentham’s utilitarianism
(2) Pleasures are homogeneous with respect to value.
There are no “higher” or “lower” pleasures
There are no “bad” pleasures
Pleasures are both measureable & commensurable

23. Features of Bentham’s utilitarianism
(2) Pleasures are homogeneous with respect to value.

24. The homogeneity of value is a problem
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

25. Features of Bentham’s utilitarianism
(3) Pleasures are given; it is not the job of the government to make people value things they don’t already like.

26. Bad pleasures are a problem.
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

27. Problems with Bentham’s utilitarianism
(1) Values are sensations, says Bentham. Does this adequately reflect how we understand the world?

28. Problems with Bentham’s utilitarianism
(2) Pleasures are quantifiable. Compare falling in love to scratching your head.

29. Problems with Bentham’s utilitarianism:
(3) Distribution. Utilitarianism only wants the total to be maximized; it doesn’t care about the distribution. This can lead to some results we might not be able to accept.
Variants: Aggregation objection, scapegoat objection, justice objection, rights objection, fairness objection.

30. Imagine the following case:
You are a sheriff, and in your jail is a man you know to be innocent. A mob is threatening to riot unless they are allowed to kill the man. You know that the riot will cause more pain, including more death, than the killing of the innocent man. Do you allow the mob to kill your prisoner?

31. Consider the following two islands:
Denseria:
100 people
2 utils each
= 200 utils
Normalia:
10 people
10 utils each
= 100 total utils

32. Consider the following two worlds:
World one:
100 people
10 utils per person
= 1000 utils
World two:
Bob gets ritually beaten.
Bob at negative 100 utils;
99 people get 12 utils per person
= 1088 utils
Bob’s being scapegoated makes the world happier, but is it fair to Bob?

33. You should murder the reluctant donor in order to save five lives.
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree