1. Utilitarianism
Maximize good

2. Jeremy Bentham Principle of utility: Maximize good
“... the greatest happiness of the whole community, ought to be the end or object of pursuit The right and proper end of government in every political community, is the greatest happiness of all the individuals of which it is composed, say, in other words, the greatest happiness of the greatest number.”

3. Bentham’s Principle
“By the principle of utility is meant that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency 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.”

4. John Stuart Mill ( )
“The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.”

5. Consequences
Consequentialism: an act’s value depends on its consequences (effects on the amount of good)
Universalism: everyone’s good counts equally
Covent Garden, London, 1908

6. Motives, intentions, etc.
Utilitarians treat what comes before the act as relevant, but only because of consequences:
1. An intention is good if it tends to lead to good actions.
2. A motive is good if it tends to lead to good intentions.
3. A character trait is good if it tends to lead to good motives.
4. A person is good if he/she tends to have good character traits.
5. A society is good if it tends to have good people.

7. Intrinsic good Maximize what?
Utilitarians need a theory of basic or intrinsic good
Moral good = maximizing basic good
Basic good = ?
Leicester Square, London, 1910

8. Hedonism
Intrinsic good: Happiness
What is happiness?

9. Happiness Bentham & Mill: pleasure and the absence of pain
Hedonism: pleasure and pain are the only sources of value

10. Bentham’s Utilitarianism
A good act increases the balance of pleasure over pain in the community
A bad act decreases it
The best acts maximize the balance of pleasure over pain

11. Bentham’s Utilitarianism
We must consider, not just ourselves, but everyone affected
Individualism: effect on community is sum of affects on members

12. Moral Calculus People affected A B . Z Total Pleasure Pain Difference
P(A) L(A) B(A)
P(B) L(B) B(B)
P(Z) L(Z) B(Z)
P L B

13. Bentham’s Arguments
Common sense: common sense moral judgments agree with PU
Arguments for other principles assume PU: “if people don’t follow this rule, bad things happen.”
We can resolve conflicts; we must have a measure of value that allows us to do that

14. Bentham against conscience
“Principle of sympathy and antipathy” tends to severity or leniency
Capricious: people’s reactions differ
Confuses motive with justification
PU is justification, not motive
St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, 1904

15. Carlyle’s Objection Thomas Carlyle: “Pig philosophy!”
Utilitarianism: good = feeling good

16. Qualities of pleasures
Mill: pleasures differ in quality as well as quantity
“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.”
We are capable of better pleasures than pigs are

17. Judging Quality Which pleasures are higher?
See what the competent judges prefer
Who is competent to judge? Those with experience of both

18. Qualities of Pleasure
Intellectual
Social
Sensual

19. Virtue
Even if higher pleasures were not more intrinsically valuable, utilitarianism would not be pig philosophy
Higher pleasures —> virtues —> benefits for others

20. Bentham v. Mill
Bentham agrees that pleasures differ in quality: “In regard to well-being, quality as well as quantity requires to be taken into account.”
He has an entire chapter on kinds of pleasures

21. Bentham v. Mill
But Bentham thinks you are the most competent judge of quality for you:
“Quantity depends upon general sensibility, sensibility to pleasure and pain in general; quality upon particular sensibility: upon a man's being more sensible to pleasure or pain from this or that source, than to ditto from this or that other.”

22. Bentham on Liberty I can know quality for me by reflection
But I can judge qualities for others only by what they say and do
So, each can judge best for him/herself: “every man is a better judge of what is conducive to his own well-being than any other man can be.”

23. Mill on Liberty Harm principle:
The only justification for restricting liberty is harm to others
Self-regarding actions: sphere of liberty
We ought to be free to do what we please so long as we don’t violate someone else’s rights

24. Mill on Rules Principle of utility justifies acts
It need not be a motivation or even a practical test
We apply it by “secondary principles,” common sense moral rules
We justify these rules by utility
We appeal to the principle of utility only when secondary principles conflict

25. Maimonides (1135-1204) Reconciling faith with reason
God’s 613 commandments consistent with reason
All those pertaining to human relations required by reason
They maximize good
Statue of Maimonides, Cordoba, Spain

26. Maimonides: Basic Good
Happiness is intrinsically good
But so is virtue
People seek to be kind, brave, generous, etc., for their own sakes, even at the expense of happiness
Intrinsic good = feeling good + being good
Castle, Cordoba

27. Maimonides on Rules
Rule utilitarianism: act according to the rules that maximize good
Kinds of acts are fundamental
Judge individual acts by rules— justify rules as maximizing good
Cordoba Cathedral

28. Act v. Rule Utilitarianism
Act utilitarianism (Bentham): an act is right if it maximizes good
Utility —> act
Rule utilitarianism (Maimonides): an act is right if it accords with the rules that maximize good
Utility —> Rules —> Act
Disagree when a rule conflicts with utility

29. Maimonides: Breaking Rules
What if we can do better by breaking a (good) rule?
Don’t break it!
Rules essential to moral thought
We are tempted to break rules for our own advantage
We’ll usually go wrong
Moral chaos
Great Mosque, Cordoba

30. Interpreting Mill Is Mill an act or rule-utilitarian?
His greatest happiness principle speaks of acts
But he stresses secondary principles

31. Mill: Breaking Rules Letter to John Venn: Advocates act utilitarianism
But agrees with Maimonides
If we break a rule, we’ll usually go wrong
So, better to obey the rule

32. Mill: Acts and Rules
Act utilitarianism is right, but act as a rule utilitarian
Act utilitarianism tells us what makes right acts right
But rule utilitarianism is a better practical test