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Flashcards by Henry Carr, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Henry Carr
about 9 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Principle of Utilitarianism | Greatest Happiness Principle -An action is judged according to how much happiness it creates. |
| Denontological Vs. Teleological | Deontological -The rightness or wrongness of an action is intrinsic on the act. Teleological -This type of ethical thinking is concentrated on the outcome/consequence of the action. |
| Bentham's Utilitarianism -Bentham created an ethical system which determined how good an action was according to how many were satisfied. -this is a quantitative theory, as it concentrates on the number of people who are satisified. Happiness= amount pleased - amount dissatisfied. | Hedonic calculus -Intensity: how strong is the pleasure? -Duration: How long the pleasure will last. -Certainty: How certain is the pleasure? -Remotness: How soon will the pleasure happen? -Fecundity: What is the likeylihood that the pleasure will be succceeded -Purity: How pure is the pleasure? -Extent: How many people will be affected? |
| John Stuart Mill -He developed a qualitative approach to ethics, wherein the moral standpoint of an action was determined by how good the pleasure was. -This stopped the issue with Bentham's theory, which justifies actions based upon how many people are pleased. this would have allowed actions which we know are wrong, to be judged as morally right. | Higher and Lower Pleasures -Mill beleived that there was a difference between the typed of pleasure. He beleived that that pleasures which were hard to acheive were more rewarding than those which are easy to acheive. -He beleived that pleasures of the mind were higher than pleasures of the body. He continued this by explaining that persuing bodily pleasures would not yeild a pleasure as high as intellectually demanding pleasures. |
| Act Utilitarianism The principle is applied directly to a particular action in a particular circumstance. -A person must decide what action will lead to the greatest good in the particular situation you are facing and apply the principle of utility directy. -The person needs to examine the CONSEQUENCES of a particular act, and know what will bring about the greatest happiness. -The only ground rule is that we must always seek the greatest mount of happioness for the greatest number of people in any given situation. | Rule Utilitarianism -Rules should determine what to do in a given situation. -Followers of rule Utilitarianism beleive that the rules should be derrived utilitarian principles. -Rule utilititarians believe that the rules are created in order to bring about the greatest happiness and because of this, they should never be disobeyed. Strong Rule Utilitarianism: Followers of strong rule utilitarianism must adhere to these rules and not disobey them. Weak Rule Utilitarianism: Rule are there, and they must be fiollowed, however it is acceptable to break them if the situation is deemed to require it. |
| Application of Bentham and mill | Issue: UK going to war with Syria over its alleged use of chemical agents. |
| Bentham -Principe of Uitility: What would bring the greatest happiness for the greatest number? -Happiness= pleasure-pain What would bring about the greatest happiness? Hedonic calculus (apply it) | John Stuart Mill The wellbeing of the individual was the most important -Qualitative apprach: Would going to war bring about qualitative happiness? Quality of happiness as opposed to quantity Would it be a higher pleasure? Would it be more rewarding? Is it compatable with the teaching of christianity to love your neighbour as you love yourself? |
| Strengths of Mill/Bentham -It is straight forward and based on a single principle of minimising pain and maximising pleasure and happiness. -It relates to actions which can be observed in the real world (e.g. giving to charity promotes happiness for poor people and is seen as good, whereas an intentional act of cruelty is condemned as bad. --Its consequentialist nature allows people to weigh up consequences. -It considers others and not just the individual. It is concerned with the common good as it takes into account those who will be affected by the action. -it is morally democratic which seeks the fairest result. Bentham's quantitative approach will examine what brings the most happiness to thr greatest number of people. -The calculus is thorough inits consideration of measuring aspects of pleasure. The fact that the calculus has 7 criteria means it can be easier to calculate the amount of happiness. | Weaknesses of Bentham/Mill -It is good to consider the consequences of our actions, but this is difficult to predict with any degree of accuracy. -As with any teleological theory the end does not always jusify the means. This means that in some cases, utilitarianism may allow morally wrong acts to take place. -Utilitarianism does not have a proper understanding of the notion of obligation or duty. Promise keeping for example could come second to and be overridden by the persuit of happiness, e.g. breaking a promise. -One of the major flaws with Mill's Utilitarianism is that it is too subjective. There is no definitive way of defining happiness, hence what some people may draw pleasure from may not pleasure others. |
| The ending of pain is suffering is more important than the increase of pleasure. | This argument involves karl popper, and his ideology. |
| Agree -Karl Popper's negative utilitarian principle is that we should act to minimise suffering rather than maximise pleasure. He arged that philosiphers should consider the fact that the greatest happiness principle can easily be made an excuse for a benelovent dictatorship. -It makes sense that the priority of the ethical system is concentrated on eradicatuing issues such as famine, disease and death, rather than maximising the amount of pleasure felt by people. -Fellow philosipher David Pearce reflects the ideas expected by Karl Popper. He beleives that no pain, physical or emotional is necessary. he argues that we should strive oto eradicate suffering in all life. -Pearce and Popper would point out that it is easier to define what constitutes pain, than what we define define as happiness. Happiness is far too subjective whereas all humans can agree on areas which wil cause emoional and physical suffering. | Disagree -Positive utilitarianism: this reccomends the promotion or maximising |
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