PHIL 2525 Contemporary Moral Issues Lec 13 Utilitarianism Chapter 7
Lifeboat Ethics... Garret Hardin maintains that we have a duty to not help the poor and starving of other countries... Rich nations are like lifeboats. The poor are like the drowning people in the water. If we let them into our lifeboat, we will all die.
and Resource Allocation Garrett Hardin: Freedom of the Commons and Resource Allocation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8gAMFTAt2M
Evaluating Lifeboat Ethics... Are rich nations like lifeboats? Where did the lifeboats come from? Why aren’t there enough lifeboats?
Epigraph: Sententious… given to excessive moralizing self-righteous putting on an air of wisdom The new author obviously thinks you couldn’t have figured it out….or the word is old and you shouldn’t have to bother…
Chapter 6 Epigraph ...sententious Christian doctrine that “the end does not justify the means.” We have to ask now, “If the end doesn’t justify the means, what does?” The answer is, obviously, “Nothing!”
18th Century upheavals…
David Hume Suggested that we are somehow hard-wired to approve of things that help not only ourselves, but also society…
JEREMY BENTHAM, 1748-1832 Reading Hume made me feel as though “scales had fallen from my eyes.”
Jeremy Bentham Morality is about making the world as happy as possible
JEREMY BENTHAM “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters: pain and pleasure.
Why was Utilitarianism Revolutionary?
Why was Utilitarianism Revolutionary? Because it dispensed with God or the Hereafter as a moral marker....
JEREMY BENTHAM “The greatest good for the greatest number” the “Hedonic Calculus” as a standard for judging laws and social institutions
The Utilitarian Calculus Criteria for measuring pleasure and pain: Intensity Duration Certainty (or uncertainty) Nearness (or farness) Extent The Utilitarian Calculus
Social Reform... Government has no place in the bedrooms of the nation….
"Utilitarians believe that the sole factor in determining an action’s morality is the balance of social good vs. social evil. Appeals to moral intuitions, social traditions or God’s wishes are not relevant."
The sole factor to be considered …. is the balance of social good vs The sole factor to be considered …. is the balance of social good vs. social evil. Moral intuitions, social traditions or God’s wishes are not relevant.
Bentham advanced the principle of utility Advocated “the greatest happiness of the greatest number” Suggested the “Hedonic Calculus” as a standard for judging laws and social institutions.
J. S. Mill 1806-1873 Not merely the quantity of pleasure, but the quality of happiness had to be calculated. Some pleasures are better than others…
"Better a Socrates unsatisfied … than a pig satisfied. John Stuart Mill
"Better a Socrates unsatisfied than a fool satisfied; and better a fool unsatisfied than a pig satisfied. John Stuart Mill
J. S. Mill 1806-1873 “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.”
Lifeboat situations...
Utilitarian Tenets: Moral rules are merely rules of thumb The point is to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number Utilitarianism is a Consequentialist Theory
Matthew Donnelly and his right to die...
Utilitarian Argument… The morally right thing to do on any occasion is what will, on balance, result in the greatest good. On at least some occasions, the greatest balance of good may be brought about by mercy killing. Therefore, on some occasions mercy killing may be morally right.
7.2: Euthanasia
What’s on a man’s mind?
Mercy killing...p. 100 God is merciful A merciful God would not disapprove Bentham: About those who think God disapproves: “They call him benevolent in words, but they do not mean that he is so in reality.”
Mercy killing...p. 100 If no harm is caused to anyone else, it is no business of anyone else.
7.3: Marijuana Pleasure and pain? Harms and benefits? “All pleasures, for Bentham , were innocent until proven guilty by their consequences, however unsavoury their traditional reputation.” Almost all Utilitarians favour legalization.
7.3: Marijuana Pleasure and pain? Harms and benefits? “All pleasures, for Bentham , were innocent until proven guilty by their consequences, however unsavoury their traditional reputation.” Almost all Utilitarians favour legalization.
7.4: Non-human animals… The question is not whether they can talk or reason ..... ..... but whether they can suffer.
The Meatrix...
Jeremy Bentham The time will come when humanity will extend its mantle over everything which breathes... "
Recapping: 3 main points of Utilitarianism: Actions are judged right or wrong solely on the basis of their consequences The only thing that counts is the amount of happiness or unhappiness produced by an action (all else is irrelevant) Each person’s happiness counts the same
Sam Harris Ted Talk Two Utilitarian lectures 13. Do the needs of the many always outweigh the needs of the few? "The Utilitarian Approach" (Elements Ch. 7) Lec 13 PowerPoint Essay list in preparation for the midterm (revised) Suggested: Utilitarian Theories Suggested: Utilitarianism John Stuart. Mill Case Study: Peter Singer Wikipedia A Philosophical Self-Portrait Peter Singer Suggested: Peter Singer (his own home page) Discussion: The Singer Solution to World Poverty New York Times 1999 A Utilitarian Call to Action (get out and do something if you want to call yourself a Utilitarian) ------------------------------- 14. Problems for Utilitarianism? "The Debate over Utilitarianism" (Elements Ch. 8) Lec 14 PowerPoint Case Study: Peter Singer Wikipedia A Philosophical Self-Portrait Peter Singer "A man with plastic shoes and ironclad principles" An interview Why we all should give away 25% of our pay Suggested: Peter Singer (his own home page) Discussion: The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Ursula K. LeGuin (if you prefer Omelas in pdf) http://www.samharris.org/page/ted_talk/