Classical Utilitarianism: Bentham's View

• Utilitarianism is a form of teleological ethics focused on purpose.
• "Utilitas" is Latin for utility or advantage.

Classical Utilitarianism

• Jeremy Bentham lived from 1748 to 1832 in England.
• Aimed for more social justice and the creation of a welfare economy.
• Believed humans are governed by two sovereign masters: pleasure and pain.
• The principle of utility acknowledges pain and pleasure as governing forces.
• They serve as the standard for judging moral rightness or wrongness.

Key Concepts

• Involve benefit, advantage, joy, happiness, good versus harm, evil, misfortune.
• When applied to individual, society, and government, an action is right if it increases the happiness of the individual or society.
• Followers judge actions/measures based on the principle of utility, promoting happiness.
• Quantitative Utilitarianism aims for "the greatest happiness for the greatest number".

Core Principle

• Act to achieve as much joy and as little suffering as possible for all affected.

Advantages

• Practical applicability and universality
• Moral clarity

Disadvantages

• Disregards individual rights and condemns virtues
• Does not consider consequences

Bentham's Approach

• Bentham believed happiness can be calculated by adding individual values ​​for pleasure and pain.
• The collective gratification value (total utility), from an action for all concerned, can be determined mathematically.
• Quantitative utilitarianism can be used for every action.

Arithmetic Calculation

• Utilizes a scale from -10 to +10 to calculate pleasure and avoid pain
• Totals immediate and mediate pleasure and pain.

Criteria

• Immediate: intensity, certainty/uncertainty, duration, proximity/distance
• Mediate: fecundity, purity

Strengths

• Equal consideration of everyone's interests applies to everyday problems.
• Offers calculability of moral rightness.

Weaknesses

• Provides limited protection for minorities and can be egoistic
• Purely quantitative, involving mathematical assessment of pleasure and pain
• Problematic in determining the scope of those affected

Key Principles

• Consequentialism (focus on consequences) and hedonism (pursuit of pleasure)
• Universalism (general application) and utility (usefulness).

Mill's Utilitarianism

• John Stuart Mill advocated for qualitative utilitarianism.
• Positively defined as "pleasure" and negatively as "freedom from pain".
• Encompasses everything that is inherently pleasurable, or aids in promoting pleasure.
• An action is morally right if it promotes happiness and avoids unhappiness.
• Some kinds of pleasure are more desirable and more valuable than others.
• The value of a pleasure should be assessed based on its quality, not just quantity.

Mill's View of Humanity

• Humans are intelligent, sensitive, and conscientious, recognizing the world's happiness as imperfect.
• Possess a high capacity for suffering and prefer the pleasures of the intellect (can endure dissatisfaction).
• People choose higher pleasures because they do not want to be reduced to the level of a lower animal.
• Animals are not aware of their imperfection.

Utilitarian Standard

• The happiness of all is the standard, not just the actor.
• Bans individual actions against the well-being of all
• Every person should act considerately, following the golden rule.
• Government uses laws and education to reconcile individual interests with the interests of the community.

Act Utilitarianism (Bentham)

• Judges each specific action based on its actual consequences but accepts rules of thumb.
• Due to usefulness, it is not always possible to evaluate all the consequences of an action
• Uses causal interpretation focusing on each individual action.
• Basic rule is considered a violable rule and asks: What action is most useful for all those involved in this specific situation?

Rule Utilitarianism (Mill)

• Judges entire classes of actions from a teleological perspective
• An action is justified if it follows a moral rule based on a hypothetical interpretation
• Focuses on a class of actions following a general and binding rule.
• Asks: Which rule is generally most useful for all those involved?

Case Study Methodology

• Present and problematize a case study
• Identify and resolve the theory and state a position.

Human Dignity Ideengeschichte

• Antiquity: values achievement of the individual.
• Christianity: humans have a special place designated by God.
• Idealism: reflects capacity reason.
• Modernity: related to the nature of existence.

Speciesism

• Discrimination or exploitation of certain animal species by humans due to a presumed superiority.
• Oxford English Dictionary definition.
• Interests include the capacity to suffer while preferences include self-awareness and rationality.
• Set standards for satisfaction of interests and preferences.

Key components of Interests

• Satiety, sexual satisfaction, and freedom from pain.

Key components of Preferences

• Self-fulfilment, communication, and a sense of the future and the past.
• All beings capable of suffering have interests, requiring impartial consideration.
• Equality functions as a moral principle.

Personhood

• This concept helps overcome speciesism.
• Persons (both humans and animals) possess interests and preferences and thus have a corresponding right to life.

Peter Singer's Argumentation

• "Homosapiens" is a biological term.
• "Person" refers to the individual in an ethical sense.
• The capacity to feel pain and pleasure forms the basis for moral consideration of interests.
• A utilitarian viewpoint focuses on minimizing suffering and maximizing happiness.
• It is necessary to consider the suffering of animals and other sentient beings in order to achieve the greatest possible good.
• The consideration of interests follows a utilitarian principle.
• The capacity to experience suffering and pleasure sets the criteria for moral relevance.
• He follows John Stuart Mill's tradition, thinking utilitaristically.
• Mill focuses on humans but Singer extends the utilitarian approach to all sentient beings in order to avoid speciesism.
• He asks: do I act in accordance with the preferences of the beings affected by the action or its consequences?
• Singer believes preferences of persons weigh heavier than interests of beings.