Jeremy Bentham
that property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness […] or […] to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness”.
What is utility?
Whether an action is morally right or wrong depends entirely on its consequences
What is consequentialism?
A though experiment which questions whether pleasure is the only good
What is Nozick's experience machine?
any attempt to identify morality with some set of observable, natural properties will always be liable to an open question,
What is the open question argument?
A quantitative hedonistic version of utilitarianism
What is the hedonic calculus?
(1) if you see something, this proves that it is visible.
(2) Similarly, desiring something proves that it is desirable.
(3) The only thing that each person truly desires is happiness.
(4) The only thing that is truly desirable for a person is his or her own happiness.
(5) Hence each person should perform the actions that promote the greatest happiness.
What is Mill's proof of the Greatest Happiness Principle.
Problems with calculation
It is impossible to calculate utility.
the mistake of explaining something as being good reductively, in terms of natural properties such as pleasant or desirable.
What is the naturalistic fallacy?
Bentham's book on Utilitarianism
What is the Principles of Morals and Legislation.
Book by J S Mill on Utilitarianism
What is Utilitarianism?
unfair bias in favor of one person or thing; favoritism.
What is partiality?
an informal fallacy that occurs when an argument's premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it.
What is begging the question?
that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question: or, what is the same thing in other words, to promote or to oppose that happiness
John Stuart Mill’s qualitative hedonistic utilitarianism
What is the distinction between Higher and Lower pleasures?
it is often difficult, if not impossible, to measure and compare the values of certain benefits and costs.
What is the problem of calculation?
when a key term or phrase in an argument is used in an ambiguous way, with one meaning in one portion of the argument and then another meaning in another portion of the argument
What is The fallacy of equivocation?
how likely it is that pleasure will generate other related pleasures
What is fecundity or richness?
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. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant
What is Mill's harm principle?
The problem that agency is always some particular person’s agency; or to put it another way, there is no such thing as impartial agency, in the sense of impartiality that utilitarianism requires.
What is the integrity objection?
if a reasoner only has access to non-moral and non-evaluative factual premises, the reasoner cannot logically infer the truth of moral statements
What is Hume's law or Hume's guillotine?