PPT_-_Utilitarianism.pptx

Theory 4: Act Utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) Bentham’s utilitarianism belong to the family of objectivist ethical theories. What does this mean? Bentham was a sensitive person. He recognized that his society’s...

Theory 4: Act Utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) Bentham’s utilitarianism belong to the family of objectivist ethical theories. What does this mean? Bentham was a sensitive person. He recognized that his society’s prevailing morality too often reflected the interests of those with power to the detriment of those without power. For this reason, he attempted to formulate an egalitarian doctrine that acknowledged the interests of human beings irrespective of their social status. Bentham was an advocate of gender equality, animal welfare and universal education. He was also in favor of the abolition of slavery, physical punishment (children and adults) and the death penalty Historical Context: the Industrial Revolution  The Industrial Revolution is a period of rapid development of industry brought about by the extensive use of machinery in the production of goods.  Period of great social inequalities too… Economic consequences of I.R.  Great increase in the quantity and range of products available to consumers.  Productivity is improved / Cheaper prices for most goods. … except, perhaps, for the working class, which is left with no leisure time and money…  The standards of living increase for the privileged.  The working class is left with no leisure time, freedom or money. People leave their village or small plot of land and move to cities = great vulnerability. Factory Life  Boredom of repetitive work and a timetable set by the machines.  Each worker has to go at the proper speed. If one worker does not keep up the beat, the whole thing stops: HARSH DISCIPLINE imposed by the patrons !  Factories do not require the help of skilled workers; each employee is replaceable – at the mercy of their employer, who often provides housing.  The work is hazardous most of the time, and the conditions appalling:  Working class housing is makeshift and crowded, with few sanitary facilities. Slums!  No health and safety rules.  Long hours: 12-14 hours a day/ 7 days a week.  Not rare for factory masters to lock the doors during working hours and to give fines for infractions such as opening a window, whistling while working, etc.  Child labor: dexterity/ small size/ compliance with rules and discipline/ cheaper labor!!! “Pauper apprentices”…  Beatings if you do not obey the rules  Insecurity of life: what if the factory closes? You have no land to fall back on, and no social security.  Unemployment: Humans are replaced by machines, which are far more efficient and do not require rest or feeding!  No unions yet to defend the workers’ rights.  https://ca.images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0geK9yOONtaWm4A2CMXFwx.?p=child+labor+industrial+revolution&fr=yhs-Lkry-SF01&fr2=piv-web&hspart=Lkry&hsimp=yhs- SF01&type=ANYS_A0853_ext_bsf#id=2&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fformaementis.files.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F05%2Fhughestown2.jpg&action=click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Times_(film) WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch? https://ca.images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0geK9yOONtaWm4A2CMXFwx.?p=child+labor+industrial+revolution&fr=yhs-Lkry-SF01&fr2=piv-web&hspart=Lkry&hsimp=yhs- SF01&type=ANYS_A0853_ext_bsf#id=10&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjoseguerrero94.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F02%2Fchild4.jpg&action=click v=DfGs2Y5WJ14  Other Consequences of the Industrial Revolution  Widened gap between rich and poor.  Owners of factories want to maximize profits and reduce costs. One solution: hire workers at the lowest possible wage and increase production by all possible means, even if it threatens the life or quality of life of the workers.  Would you say that these problems of industrialization have been solved?  Watch this if you are interested (as I think you should!): http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/2013-2014/made-in- bangladesh 1- The Quest for Pleasure and Pain is Universal  Pleasure and pain are universal and they guide us in all that we do. In other words, pleasure is the only thing that has has value in and of itself, all other things having instrumental value only.  Everything else in life has value only to the degree it derives its worth from pleasure (and/or an avoidance of pain).  Happiness: basically a state in which "pleasure" predominates over "pain ».  This means that human beings are fundamentally egotistical, i.e. that we are incapable of choosing anything besides what we think is best for ourselves.  Nothing of what we do is altruistic (done out of a concern for others’ well-being regardless of any self-interest). Could Bentham Be Wrong about This? Try to prove him wrong! TEAM WORK (GROUPS OF 3-4) 1. How altruistic are you? Describe one of your recent altruistic acts. At its most fundamental level, was this act motivated by altruism, or was it rather motivated by your selfish need to maximize your pleasure and/minimize the pain you may feel? 2. Try to think of what might be considered an emblematic example of altruism. Write this example down. 3. Try to think of people who seem to be »running after pain » rather than »running after pleasure. » Write those 2- We Should Promote Pleasure  Since pleasure is valuable in itself, it is our responsibility to maintain and promote it in our own lives and in the lives of everyone else. We also ought to oppose whatever leads to suffering, since suffering diminishes pleasure.  Careful! Bentham is not saying that we should promote our own interests whenever possible.  There is a difference between what is / what ought to be! https:// medium.com/ @elleluna/the- crossroads-of- should-and- must- 90c75eb7c5b0  « Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think: every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve but to demonstrate and confirm it. »  Bentham, Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation The Theory of Utilitarianism 3- It is the Consequences That Matter  Bentham also notices that there ARE consequences to all our actions and that those consequences can affect both ourselves and others in significant ways.  These consequences generally include a mix of good and bad (pleasure and pain).  Bentham argues, moreover, that we SHOULD determine the morality of actions based on their consequences. More specifically, when something produces a net amount of unpleasant consequences for all the persons involved, that thing is morally wrong or bad. When something produces a net amount of pleasant consequences for all the persons involved, it is right or good, or morally acceptable. The Theory of Utilitarianism 4 - Everybody Counts for One  Because he was an egalitarian at heart, Bentham believed that the pleasure and/or pain felt by anybody involved in a situation should not be given more importance than the amount of pleasure and/or pain felt by anybody else. Likewise, we should not be judgmental of how people feel, of the amount of pleasure and pain certain situations give them. 5. The universal moral principle of utilitarianism: “We should always do what promotes the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people, knowing that everybody counts for one.” The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation – this is Bentham’s objective and universal moral principle. Morality is about making the world as happy as possible. How are things to be handled if the consequences of something happen to be mixed, both pleasurable and painful?  More specifically…  To facilitate this calculus of utility, Bentham identified a number of aspects that he believed must be included in assessing an act’s overall effect: 1. Scope: how many individuals would be affected? The greater the number of individuals affected by an action’s effects, the greater the scope of those effects. 2. Duration: How long would each effect last? Some effects are short-lived; others can continue a long time. The longer a given effect lasts, the more it affects the overall utility. 3. Intensity: Experiences can differ in their degree of strength or force. Some desirable effects, as well as some kinds of suffering, can be very intense; others may be fairly mild. Note that a certain kind of effect can also vary in intensity from one person to another. 4. Probability: We do not know the future; we thus do not know for sure what effects any particular action might produce. We can only estimate their chances as best we can. The most reasonable way to make such estimates is to give the greatest weight to the most likely effects (whether desirable or not). The Calculus of Utility: Moral Arithmetic  Ultimately, we need to determine the expected overall utility [subtracting disutility (pain) from utility(pleasure)] that would be produced by each particular choice of action. We determine this for each choice by considering (1) the scope of the action, (2) its duration, (3) its intensity of its effects and (4) the probability of each effect.  Once we have estimated the expected overall utility for each of our choices, we must then compare those expected utilities to determine which choice should produce the greatest overall utility. The act that will lead to the greatest overall utility is then the act that utilitarianism says is the morally right thing to do.  This is how we determine right from wrong.  Morality is context-based! Some ethical dilemmas analyzed using a utilitarian lense Problematic Examples Illustrating the Downsides of Utilitarianism… 1. Angela King’s case (CBC documentary about the abuse of Indigenous women that we watched in class.) 2. An extremely racist society desires to establish a small class of slaves that would amount to no more than 1% of the total population. These slaves would contribute tremendously to the quality of life of the majority, whose main passion and interest has always been idleness and a hatred towards foreigners. Right or wrong according to Bentham? 3. A patient in a vegetative state coma (does not feel anything, nor is there any possibility that she might ever wake up and remember) – technically, the nurses or caretakers could perhaps do anything to that person since without sensations, this person does not count even under “scope”? Objection 1: Justice / Human Rights Objection Objection 2: Moral Permessiveness Objection Objection 3: Moral Saints Objection Objection 4: Calculation Problem  Predicting the future… and doing so precisely!  Huge quantity of consequences in certain cases… Strengths of utilitarianism  Imagine Two Cases Involving Casual Sex (Flexibility)  Try to come up with two different situations involving casual sex after an evening out in a bar, one being morally ok according to Bentham’s ethical theory and the other one, morally wrong. Let’s say that both situations are about Romy and John:  Dragon Lady (Utilitarianism as a liberal approach to ethics) https://www.google.com/search? q=dragon+lady&rlz=1C5CHFA_enCA9 15CA915&sxsrf=ALiCzsbDTGZn- LKOh8DrkxWc2- GQdtNOpg:1664846420766&source=l nms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEw jmko- ctMX6AhWOGlkFHbkeD7UQ_AUoAXoE CAIQAw&biw=1440&bih=732&dpr=1 #imgrc=CGD0aKdkE39JEM Strength or Weakness? Note, that Act Utilitarians do not believe that some pleasures are “bad pleasures” and should be dismissed as such. If something feels good, then it is good! FGM: « B'rit Milah », or « Bris »: The https://www.theguardian.com/ Jewish Circumcision Ritual. society/video/2016/feb/05/fac Read about this topic: ts-you-should-know-about- fgm-video B'rit Milah: The Circumcision Ritual, in Reformjudaism.org https://www.reformjudaism.or g/mohel https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/0 5/male-circumcision-vs-female-circumcision/39273 2/ WHAT ABOUT THIS?