Starter Quiz on your sheet. (Fill it in without your notes!) So, last time we did strengths, and the problems of calculation and abuse of minorities. Today we’re doing two more problems.

Objectives Understand two more problems with Act Utilitarianism. Consider all the strengths and weaknesses of the theory. Use these to plan a brilliant essay.

Last time we started talking about Nozick’s “experience machine”… "Suppose there were an experience machine that would give you any experience you desired. Superduper neuropsychologists could stimulate your brain so that you would think and feel you were writing a great novel, or making a friend, or reading an interesting book. All the time you would be floating in a tank, with electrodes attached to your brain. Should you plug into this machine for life, preprogramming your life experiences? [...] Of course, while in the tank you won't know that you're there; you'll think that it's all actually happening [...] Would you plug in?."

What are Karl’s three reasons for not plugging into the machine? 4.16 “You don’t want fun all in one go” 4.24 “It’s about things taking time and then looking back at the journey” 5.11 “You need a bit of the badness to have the goodness” What are Karl’s three reasons for not plugging into the machine?

Sum up Nozick’s reasons in your own words. “What else can matter to us, other than how we feel from the inside? What does matter to us in addition to our experiences? First, we want to do certain things, and not just have the experiences of doing them. In the case of certain experiences, it is only because first we want to do the actions that we want the experiences of doing them or thinking we’ve done them. A second reason for not plugging in is that we want to be a certain way, to be a certain sort of person. Someone floating in a tank is an indeterminate blob. There is no answer to the question of what a person is like who has long been in the tank. Is he courageous, kind, intelligent, witty, loving? It’s not merely that it’s difficult to tell; there’s no way he is. Plugging into the machine is a kind of suicide… We learn that something matters to us in addition to experience by imagining an experience machine and then realising that we would not use it.” Sum up Nozick’s reasons in your own words.

In each of these cases, our moral intuition may conflict with the utilitarian answer. What is the reason for this conflict in each case? You have promised your granny that you will meet her on Saturday afternoon at Asda to help with her shopping. Just as you are leaving, three of your friends text you and beg you to come out with them. You walk past a pond where two people are drowning. You only have time to save one. One is your mother and the other is a doctor developing cancer treatments. There have been a series of murders and the police can’t find the killer. The public are getting increasingly scared and agitated and want the killer to be caught. The police find a lonely homeless man and arrest him saying that he’s the killer when they know he’s not.

Utilitarianism overlooks important moral concepts: You have promised your granny that you will meet her on Saturday afternoon at Asda to help with her shopping. Just as you are leaving, three of your friends text you and beg you to come out with them. A utilitarian has to do whatever causes the most pleasure. But in cases where you have made a promise, the moral thing seems to be to keep your promise, even if that doesn’t have the happiest result.

Utilitarianism overlooks important moral concepts: You walk past a pond where two people are drowning. You only have time to save one. One is your mother and the other is a doctor developing cancer treatments. A utilitarian has to do whatever causes the most pleasure, regardless of who is involved. But in cases involving our friends and family, we usually think we have moral duties towards them that are stronger than our duties towards strangers.

Utilitarianism overlooks important moral concepts: There have been a series of murders and the police can’t find the killer. The public are getting increasingly scared and agitated and want the killer to be caught. The police find a lonely homeless man and arrest him saying that he’s the killer when they know he’s not. A utilitarian has to do whatever causes the most pleasure. But in cases involving punishment or reward, we usually think that justice is important – people getting what they deserve.

Assessing Act Utilitarianism Now read page 5 which summarises these problems and make sure you understand them all. In your notes, rank them in order of how damaging you think they are. Explain why you’ve put them in that order. On your whiteboard: What are our AO2 trigger words? How do we plan a long AO2 essay? What do you personally need to remember when writing essays?

Evaluate Act Utilitarianism as a method of making moral decisions (30 marks)

Objectives: Understand two more problems with Act Utilitarianism. Consider all the strengths and weaknesses of the theory. Use these to plan a brilliant essay.