Outline the main features of Utilitarianism andExamine critically criticisms that have been offered against utilitarianism

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Outline the main features of Utilitarianism

The theory of Utilitarianism determines the rightness or wrongness of an action by its consequence. In particular the amount of pleasure or ability to avoid pain, which the action produces. Because of this it is called a teleological theory of ethics. If the consequences are good then even if the motivation was bad it is not brought under judgement. The main founders of this theory were Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill who outlined the principle of utility. Utilitarianism in many ways can be summed up by the phrase ‘greatest happiness for the greatest number’. This is known as the greatest happiness principle. For Utilitarian’s the motives are not important. Only consequences count. The action not the person doing it counts. As people’s motives cannot be seen and they can lie about their motives, the only thing we can judge for sure is the outcome of their choice and action. This means Utilitarianism can also be know as consequentialism. For example say a large group of people are stuck in a cave because a fat man is stuck in the only exit of this cave. The only way to free themselves would to dynamite their way out, therefore sacrificing the fat man. Do they all free themselves at the cost of one life or do they not kill him and all die? In this situation a Utilitarian would kill the man in question and save all the others as you are acting with the ‘greatest good for the greatest number’ and killing one man for the survival of a vast amount of people is seen by Utilitarian’s as the right thing to do.  Bentham would go about arguing this using hedonic calculus. This is were he created a way in calculating how much pleasure and avoidance of pain, could be brought about by different actions. The calculus consisted of seven principles each of which could be given a numerical score. Intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, extent. Such a calculation could, in principle, demonstrate who should be saved from a burning building, an old man, pregnant woman or doctor who has got the cure for cancer. The Utilitarian using this calculus would save the doctor first as they have the cure for cancer and this can bring long duration, propinquity, intensity and extent. Many people could survive from this new cure for cancer so this doctor could bring the greatest good for the greatest number. Next the Utilitarian would save the pregnant woman as there would be a great richness and purity in saving the life of the young child who has the probability of a long and happy life ahead, while the extent of the pleasures experienced by two people is a clear likelihood. Lastly the Utilitarian would attend to the old man as the duration and certainty of his future pleasures is under question owing to his age. He has experienced his life, while the child will have all their life ahead of them. This type of calculation would be mostly used by an act utilitarian who believed it is always ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’ and maintaining whenever possible the principle of utility. This type of utilitarianism has the benefit of being more flexible, being able to take into account individual situations at a given moment, although the actions that it justifies can change. Bentham found pain and pleasure to be the only intrinsic values in the world: "nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. He believed that pain and pleasure are the only ways in which we can really decide whether the action will be intrinsically good in the end.

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However John Stuart Mill felt that the big problem with Bentham’s theory was that it could lead to a ‘swine ethic’. That is, it could lead people to behave ‘like pigs’ who justified cruelty of allsorts, even genocide, if the majority of people in a country found it pleasurable. It was possible according to Bentham’s reasoning, to justify the torture of a single prisoner by a group of guards, since their greater number outweighed the pain felt by one prisoner and the quality of the happiness was not an issue. Mill argued that instead of the quantity of pleasure, ...

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