What is Utilitarianism? | PHILO-notes Whiteboard Edition

what is he Tillett arianism utilitarianism is an ethical theory founded by Jeremy Bentham and developed and popularized by John Stuart Mill as the term suggests utilitarianism is founded in the principle of utility which adheres to the belief that an act is good or morally right if it promotes happiness and bad or immoral if it tends to produce pain the key therefore in utilitarianism is the principle of happiness hence again in utilitarianism an act is good or morally right if it produces greatest happiness to the greatest number of people and bad or immoral if it produces more harm or pain than benefits or happiness to the greatest number of people this explains why the utilitarian would not care whether the action is done out of deception lie or manipulation as long as it produces maximum benefits to many people for example the act of condemning a terrorist to death is morally right for the utilitarian because this action produces equal benefits or greatest happiness to the greatest number of people concerned let us take the famous case of Robin Hood as another example as its well-known Robin Hood steals properties from wealthy people and give them to the poor from the vantage point of Christian ethics Robin Hood's act is immoral because it deprived the wealthy people of the right that is due to them however from the vantage point of utilitarianism Robin Hood's act is morally good because it produces maximum benefits that is greatest happiness to the majority of the people now let us discuss Jeremy Bentham's model of utilitarianism and let's start by asking the question how does Bentham view happiness well for Bentham happiness is simply the absence of pain and so Bentham introduced the philosophy calculus to measure the degree of happiness or pleasure that a specific action may produce the philosophic calculus is also called the utility calculus or hedonistic calculus it includes intensity duration certainty propinquity fecundity purity and extent and so for Bentham the intense the pleasure the better the longer it lasts the better the more certain that it will happen the better the closer that it will occur the better the greater the possibility that it will be followed by another pleasure the better the pure the pleasure the better and the greater the number of people that it benefits the better the formula of Bentham's philosophy calculus goes like this happiness less pain is equal to balance for Bentham the balance is the basis of the morality of an action in other words for Bentham if the balance is in favor of happiness then the act is morally right and if it is in favor of pain then it is morally wrong now how do we do this well Bentham said that we just need to sum up all the pleasures and pains produced by the action if the balance is in favor of please then the act is morally right but if the balance is in favor of pain then the action is morally wrong now let us put it in simple mathematical calculation and so if an act produces twelve pleasures and six pains then the balance is six which is in favor of pleasure or happiness hence if this is the case then for Bentham the action is morally right however if the act produces twenty pains in just five pleasures then the balance is fifteen which is in favor of pain if this is the case then for Bentham the act is morally wrong now let us proceed the John Stuart Mill's model of utilitarianism it is important to note that Mill disagrees with Bentham Mill argues that we cannot calculate the amount of pleasure or pain that an act produces thus for Mill the philosophic calculus cannot be the basis of morality but the majority of the people that attains happiness thus the famous utilitarian claimed an act is morally right if it produces greatest happiness to the greatest number of people and it is morally wrong if it produces more pain than pleasure to the greatest number of people concerned as we can see male C Tillet Arianism is considered qualitative since the philosopher emphasizes intellectual pleasure than sensual pleasure thus his famous saying goes it is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied we also have what we call the acti Tillett Arianism a qutilat arianism holds that the utilitarian principle should be applied to a particular act in a particular situation or circumstance it takes into account the possible result of each act hence as the name suggests in ACTA Tillet Arianism the basis of the morality of an action is the act itself hands in ACTA Tillet Arianism we should perform those actions that produce greatest happiness to the greatest number of people concerned now there is also what we call as rule utilitarianism really Tillet arianism on the other hand holds that the principle at issue should be used to test moral rules and then such rules can be utilized in judging what is right and wrong under the circumstance here we consider the possible results in the light of the rules thus in rule II Tillet arianism an act is morally right if it conforms to a justified moral rule and of course we know that moral rules are justified if such rules produce greatest happiness to the greatest number of people concerned let us take again as an example the act of condemning a terrorist to death and so an actor to latarian would ask the question what possible good or evil results from this act if the majority of the people are benefited by the act itself then it is moral a rule II Tillett Arian on the other hand would ask whether there is a rule or law that condemns terrorists to death and whether this rule was formulated based on the utility principle if this is the case then it may be morally right to sentence a terrorist to death that's it for now thanks for visiting us today for another whiteboard discussion here at filo notes full transcript of this video is available at Fila notes calm and to keep you updated of our newest videos simply click here and subscribe and tap the bell for notifications thanks 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Channel: PHILO-notes

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Keywords: Utilitarianism, Utility, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Happiness, Robinhood, Felicific Calculus, Utility Calculus, Hedonistic Calculus, Act Utilitarianism, Rule Utilitarianism

Id: 01Y1zVGv9h0

Length: 9min 31sec (571 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 18 2020