PowerPoint Presentation

J.S. Mill, Utilitarianism (1863)

PHIL 102, UBC

Summer 2015

Christina Hendricks

Except parts noted otherwise, this presentation is licensed CC-BY 4.0

John Stuart Mill(1806-1873, England)

Mill “had a lifelonggoal of reforming theworld in the interestof human well-being”http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mill /

When asking what is right/wrongmorally, what to evaluate?

Person

Action

Consequences

•Intention

•Motive

•Habitualdispositionto act insome ways

•What kind ofact is it?

•What wasactuallydone?

•What resultsfrom theaction?

Consequentialism

“whether an act is morally rightdepends only on consequences (asopposed to the …intrinsic nature of theact or anything that happens before theact).”

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on consequentialism:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/#ClaUti

Hedonistic consequentialism

•Value hedonism: “all and only pleasure isintrinsically valuable and all and only painis intrinsically disvaluable.”

-- Internet Encycl. of Philo:http://www.iep.utm.edu/hedonism/#SH1b

•Hedonistic consequentialism:determine the moral value ofconsequences, and therefore of acts, byhow much pleasure/pain produced

Some moral scenarios

http://is.gd/PHIL102Mill

A few different moral scenarios, toencourage you to think about what might beneeded to say an action is morally right orwrong…

Utilitarianism, Chpt 1

“There ought either to be some one fundamental principle or law, at the root of all morality, or if there be several, there should be a determinate order of precedence among them…” (1).
Why?

What is that principle, for Mill?

Simplified overview of Mill’sUtilitarianism

We can judge themoral value ofactions by thedegree ofhappiness theytend to producefor the sentientcreatures involved

Greatest Happiness Principle

“actions are [morally] right in proportion asthey tend to promote happiness, [morally]wrong as they tend to produce the reverseof happiness” (2).

•“happiness” is defined in terms ofpleasure and reduction or absence ofpain

Support for GHP(more in Chpt. IV)

•“pleasure, and freedom from pain, arethe only things desirable as ends” (2)

•Mill on the highest good (5)

•The “end of human action is necessarilyalso the standard of morality” (5)

Pleasure,reductionof pain

(self & others)

Pleasure as only intrinsic value (p. 2, & Chpt 4)

Use happiness, defined in terms of pleasure, toevaluate consequences of acts

Judge acts with Greatest Happiness Principle (GHP)

Actualconsequencesthe act had?

What wasintended asconsequence?

Usualconsequencesfor this kind ofact?

Consequences for whom?

•Sentient beings (5)

•Not the whole world for all actions(6)

•Impartiality(5)

Different kinds of pleasures

Mill distinguishes between differentkinds of pleasures: what kinds, andwhy does he make this distinction?

How do we know pleasures differ inkind, not just quantity? (3-4)

Even if you could get the sensual pleasuresnearly or fully satisfied, a life with the capacityfor intellectual pleasures but with less of themwould still be preferable.

Sensual only (pig and fool)

Sensual & intellectual(human & Socrates)

Role of motive

Motive doesn’t matter to the morality ofactions (6)

Still, we should tryto get people towant to promotegeneral happiness(5-6)

Do we have to calculateconsequences each time we act?

•No; we can use “subordinateprinciples” from the “fundamentalprinciple” (GHP) (9)

•These are drawn from humanexperience of which kinds of actionstend to promote more/less pleasure &pain (8)

Pleasure as only intrinsic value

Use happiness, defined in terms ofpleasure, to evaluate conseq. of acts

Greatest Happiness Principle (GHP)

Subordinate principles (moral rules) (8-9)

Act R/W?

GHP used to determine subordinaterules, decide between them if theyconflict re: an action

Chpt V: Utilitarianism & Justice

Two questions addressed here:

1.What differentiates justice from the restof morality?

2. Would utilitarianismallow people to actunjustly if that wouldpromote morehappiness in agroup overall?

Question 1: Moral categories

Morallyobligatory/required

What must be done

Morallyobligatory/required

What must be done

Morallypermissible/optional

What can be done

Morallypermissible/optional

What can be done

Morallyprohibited

What must not be done

Morallyprohibited

What must not be done

Supererogatory

praiseworthy butoptional

Supererogatory

praiseworthy butoptional

•What promotesgeneral happiness,and

•What peopleshould becompelled to do oravoid (19)

oHow decide whatactions should becompelled?

•What promoteshappiness, butpeople should notbe compelled to door avoid (19)

oThough we can tryto persuade

•Examples?

Morality/duty

Prudence/expedience

Morality

•Duties of perfectobligation (20)

•Connected to one ormore rights

oHow determine whatcounts as a right?

•Justice/rights focuson security: “the mostvital of all interests”(21)

•Duties of imperfectobligation (20)

•Not connected torights

•Example: generosity

Justice

Rest of morality

Must we maximize happiness?

For Mill, is it morally required to produce asmuch happiness as possible, in all actions?

No, accordingto other writings