Utilitarianism

Learning Targets
• Discuss the basic principles of utilitarian ethics;
• Distinguish between two utilitarian models – Bentham
and Mill; and
• Apply utilitarianism in understanding and evaluating
moral dilemma.
Activity:
Duterte places NCR, nearby areas back to MECQ beginning
Tuesday, August 4,2020 Published August 2, 2020 11:41pm

President Rodrigo Duterte has placed Metro Manila and other

high-risk areas back to a modified enhanced community
quarantine for 15 days effective Tuesday, August 4, 2020 amid
the COVID-19 threat. In a briefing on Sunday night, Duterte
said that the National Capital Region and the provinces of
Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite, and Rizal under the MECQ until
August 18. Duterte made the decision on Sunday night on the
recommendation of the Cabinet led by Health Secretary
Francisco Duque III.
Questions:
• Do you agree of the decision made by President Rodrigo
R. Duterte? Why?

• Are you satisfied with the actions / decisions of our

government? Why?
What makes something good or bad?
• For some people, it depends on the outcome of any decision. For
example, does it increase or decrease the amount of happiness in
the world? This kind of thinking that focuses on the outcomes is
called consequentialism.

• Consequentialism is an ethical school of thought that says the

best actions are the ones who produce the best results. Although
versions of consequentialism can be traced back to the ancient
world, the most famous version is relatively modern. And it’s called
utilitarianism.
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
• He was born on February 15, 1748 in London,
England.
• He was the teacher of James Mill, father of John
Stuart Mill.
• Bentham first wrote about the greatest
happiness principle of ethics and was known for a
system of penal management called panopticon.
• He was an advocate of economic freedom,
women’s rights, and the separation of church and
state, among others.
• He was also an advocate of animal rights and the
abolition of slavery, death penalty, and corporal
punishment for children.
• He donated his corpse to the University College
London, where his auto-icon is in public display
up to this day to serve as his memorial.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
• He was born on May 20, 1806 in Pentonville,
London, United Kingdom.
• He was home-schooled. He studied Greek at
the age of three and Latin at the age of Eight.
• He wrote a history of Roman Law at age eleven,
and suffered a nervous breakdown at the age of
twenty.
• He was married to Harriet Taylor after twenty
one years of friendship.
• His ethical theory and his defense of utilitarian
view are found in his long essay entitled
Utilitarianism (1861).
• Mill died on May 8, 1873 in Avignon, France
erysipelas.
 Utilitarianism

• Is an ethical theory that argues for the goodness of a pleasure and

determination of right behavior based on the usefulness of the
action’s consequences.

• This means that pleasure is good and that the goodness of an

action is determined by its usefulness. Utilitarian claims that one’s
action and behavior are good in as much as they are directed
toward the experience of the greatest pleasure over pain or the
greatest number of persons.
 Utilitarianism

• Their system of ethics emphasize the consequences of actions. The

goodness or badness of an action is based on whether is useful in
contributing to a specific purpose for the greatest number of
people.

• Utilitarianism is a consequentialist.

• The utilitarian value pleasure and happiness; this means that the
usefulness of actions is based on its promotion of happiness.
 Principle of Utility

• Bentham argue that our actions are governed by two sovereign

masters: pleasure and pain.

• These masters are given to us by nature to help us determine what

is good or bad and what ought to be done and not; they fasten our
choices to their throne.
 Principle of Utility

• For Bentham, the principle refers to the motivation of our action as

guided by our avoidance of pain and desire for pleasure. In other
words, in our everyday actions, we do what is pleasurable and we
do not do what is painful.
• The principle also refers to pleasure as good if, and only if, they
produce more happiness than unhappiness. This means that it is
not enough to experience pleasure, but also inquire whether the
things we do make us happier.
 Principle of Utility

• For Mill, what makes people happy is intended pleasure and what
makes us unhappy is the privation of pleasure. Meaning, the
things that produce happiness and pleasure is good; where as,
those that produce unhappiness and pain are bad.
• Mill believed that if we find our actions pleasurable, it is because
they are inherently pleasurable in themselves or they eventually
lead to the promotion of pleasure and avoidance of pain.
What kind of pleasure is morally
preferable and valuable?

Are all pleasures necessarily and

ethically good?

Is eating or exercising good? Or it

is morally acceptable to eat and
exercise excessively?
 Felicific Calculus (Bentham)

• Is a common currency framework that calculates the pleasure that

some actions can produce. According to this framework, can cation
can be evaluated on the basis of the following:
• Intensity: How intense is the pleasure?
• Duration: How long does it last?
• Certainty: How sure is the pleasure?
• Propinquity: How soon will it occur?
• Fecundity: How many more?
• Purity: How free from pain is the pleasure?
• Extent: How many people are affected?
 Felicific Calculus (Bentham)

• Actions are evaluated on a single case regardless of preference and

values. In this sense, pleasure and pain can only quantitatively
differ but not qualitatively differ from other experiences of pleasure
and pain accordingly.
 Higher and Lower Desires /
Intellect (Mill)

• He thinks that the principle of utility must distinguish pleasures

qualitatively and not merely quantitatively.
• He believe that there are higher intellectual and lower base
pleasures. Human are capable of searching and desiring higher
intellectual pleasures more than animals.
• Lower desires (food, sleep, etc.) may be dealt with using the Calculus.
• Higher desires may only be discussed in terms of quality – which Mill claimed
no calculus could evaluate.
 Higher and Lower Desires /
Intellect (Mill)

• Mill argues that quality is more preferable than quantity.

• An excessive quantity of what is otherwise pleasurable might result

in pain. E.g. excessive eating and exercise.
Morality and Utilitarianism
 Principle of the Greatest Number

• Utilitarianism cannot lead to selfish acts. It is neither about our

pleasure nor happiness alone; it cannot be all about us.
• If we are the only ones satisfied by our actions, it does not
constitute a moral good. If we are the only ones who are made
happy by our actions, then we cannot be morally good.

• It is necessary for us to consider everyone’s happiness,

including our own, as the standard by which to evaluate
what is moral.
 Principle of the Greatest Number

• Utilitarianism is interested with everyone’s happiness, in fact, the

greatest happiness of the greatest number. For example,
eradication of disease, using technology, and other practical ways.
• Utilitarianism is interested with the best consequences for the
highest number of people. It is not interested with the intention of
the agent.
If actions are based only on the
greatest happiness of the greatest
number, is it justifiable to let go of some
rights for the sake of the benefit of the
majority?
 Justice and Moral Rights

• Mill thinks that is commendable to endure legal punishments for

acts of civil disobedience for the sake of promoting a higher moral
good. At an instance of conflict between moral and legal rights, Mill
points out that moral right take precedence over legal rights.
• It is an act of injustice to violate an individual’s moral rights,
however, Mill suggested tat some moral rights can be overridden
for the sake of the greater general happiness.

• This means “theoretically” a person can steal, kill, and the like as long as it can be
justified for the sake of producing greatest happiness of the greatest number of people.
Thoughts to Ponder!
1. Is the act good or bad?

You attempt to help an elderly man across the street. He

gets across safely.
Conclusion: The Act was good act.

You attempt to help an elderly man across the street. You

stumble as you go, he is knocked into the path of a car,
and is hurt.
Conclusion: The Act was a bad act.
Thoughts to Ponder!
2. What would utilitarianism philosophers do?

If lying or stealing will actually bring about more

happiness and/or reduce pain. Act Utilitarianism says ?

We should lie and steal in those cases.

Thoughts to Ponder!
3. What would utilitarianism philosophers do?

You use 80 soldiers as a decoy in war, and thereby attack

an enemy force and kill several hundred enemy soldiers. Is
this a good choice?

Yes, it is a morally good choice even though the 80 might

be lost.
Thoughts to Ponder!
4. Is it justifiable to build a basketball court because there
are basketball fans, than to build a hospital because there
are fewer sick people?

5. When is it justifiable to torture suspected criminals?