1. PHIL242: MEDICAL ETHICS SUM2014, M-F, 9:40-10:40, SAV 156
INSTRUCTOR:BENJAMIN HOLE
OFFICE HOURS: M-F, 10:40-11

2. Agenda Clicker Quiz Finish Mill Start Kant
Please set your Turning Technology Clicker to channel 41
Press “Ch”, then “41”, then “Ch”

3. J.S. Mill is best classified as a supporter of:
Utilitarianism
Quantitative Hedonism
Qualitative Hedonism
Natural Law Theory
A&B
A&C
None of the above

4. According to Kant, moral laws are:
necessary and apply to all rational beings.
contingent and apply only to some human beings.
culturally relative.
grounded in God’s commands.
all the above
none of the above

5. According to Kant, the moral worth of an action depends on:
whether the agent has sympathy or the right inclination.
the consequences of the action.
the maxim that is acted on.
all of the above.
none of the above.

6. Mill
Hedonistic Utilitarianism

7. Hedonistic Utilitarianism
Big Picture
Theory of the Right
Principle of utility
Theory of the Good
Hedonism

8. Mill’s Hedonistic Utilitarianism
“the summum bonum, or, … the foundation of morality”

9. Mill’s Hedonistic Utilitarianism
“… pleasure and freedom from pain are the only things desirable as ends … are desirable either for pleasure inherent in themselves or as a means to the promotion of pleasure and the prevention of pain”

10. Mill revises Bentham’s Hedonism
Objection
Response
Hedonism is a “doctrine worthy of a swine”
The objection depends on an impoverished conception of pleasure
Rather there are higher and lower pleasures

11. Mill revises Bentham’s Hedonism
“it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied”

12. Mill revises Bentham’s Hedonism
The Pig
Socrates
Contentment:
Lower Pleasures
No Lower Pleasures
Happiness:
No Higher Pleasures
Higher Pleasures
“it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied”

13. Strongly Agree Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Disagree
“"it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied“”
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

14. What are higher pleasures?
“Human beings have faculties more elevated than the animal appetites and, when once made conscious of them, do not regard anything as happiness which does not include their gratification”

15. The Competent Judges Test
Mill’s case for HP > LP
Competent judges are people who have experienced both higher and lower pleasures.
They choose higher pleasures over the qualitatively different lower pleasures because the higher ones are qualitatively better.
If someone chooses lower pleasures, he is not a competent judge because has not fully experienced the higher pleasure.

16. Mill Reformulates Bentham’s Hedonism
Qualitative Hedonism
Higher pleasures are qualitatively better than lower pleasures.
Higher pleasures are immeasurable and therefore incommensurable with one another.
No matter how much lower pleasure you have, it is not as good as a higher pleasure.

17. Mill’s Qualitative Hedonism
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

18. Mill
“Rule” Utilitarianism

19. Mill responds …
Objection
Response
“there is not time, previous to action, for calculating and weighing the effects”
“The answer to the objection is that there has been ample time, namely the whole past duration of the human species”

20. Mill’s utilitarianism
Rules of Thumb
On the basis of human experience, we can derive rules of thumb about which kinds actions produce the best consequences.
The Harm Principle
"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others."

21. The Collapse of RU Argument
Does RU admit exception cases?
If yes
If no
Act utilitarianism / Distribution Objection
Rule Worship / Deontology

22. Mill’s utilitarianism
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

23. Kant
The Good will

24. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) He’s technical and complex.
He’s enormously influential.
Use recommended readings
One of the greatest philosophers in history, with major contributions in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, the philosophy of religion, aesthetics, and many other areas.

25. How does Kant compare to Bentham?
HETERONOMY
AUTONOMY

26. How does Kant compare to Bentham?
Bentham’s source of moral salience: sentience
Moral Claims:
empirical
knowable a posteriori
contingent
Kant’s source of moral salience: agency
Moral Claims:
non-empirical
knowable a priori
necessary

27. The structure of Kantian Ethics
The Good
The Right
Good Will
The Categorical Imperative
“Nothing can possibly be conceived in the world, or even out of it, which can be called good, without qualification, except a Good Will.”

28. The Sympathetic Shopkeeper
Kant’s Three Propositions
“to have moral worth an action must be done from duty”
“An action performed from duty does not have its moral worth in the purpose which is to be achieved through it but in the maxim by which it is determined.”
“Duty is the necessity of an action executed from respect for the law.”

29. The Sympathetic Shopkeeper
“Persons who help or benefit others because they have a spontaneous inclination toward sympathy (or benevolence or generosity) are, like the shopkeeper, doing what they want to do and not acting out of duty; thus their actions … have no real moral worth”

30. The Sympathetic Shopkeeper
“The person worthy of moral esteem is the one who has no desire or inclination at all to help anyone … but who helps others out of moral duty alone”

31. Strongly Agree Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Somewhat Disagree Disagree
“Nothing can possibly be conceived in the world, or even out of it, which can be called good, without qualification, except a Good Will.”
Strongly Agree
Agree
Somewhat Agree
Neutral
Somewhat Disagree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree