The strengths and weaknesses of utilitarianism

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  1. What are the main advantages of utilitarianism? (21 marks)
  2. Identify the main problems of utilitarianism. To what extent do these make utilitarianism unacceptable? (9)

Utilitarianism was developed by Jeremy Bentham and is a modern form of the hedonistic ethical theory which teaches that the end of human conduct is happiness, and that consequently the discrimination norm which distinguishes conduct into right and wrong pleasure and pain. The aforementioned Bentham lived in era of great social and scientific change and unrest. He therefore, because of his social surroundings developed a theory that stated that right actions are those who produce the most pleasure for everyone affected and wrong actions consequently are those who do not. He coined the phrase “the greatest good for the greatest number” which summarises his aim which was to iron out the deep inequalities of his time.

Bentham being a hedonist believed that all humans naturally pursued pleasure and conversely avoids pain. To measure this pain and pleasure, Bentham created the ‘hedonic calculus’ which weighs up the pleasure and pain which might arise from moral actions to decide the best option. The formula should determine which act has the best tendency and therefore right. He measured happiness with seven different elements including; Intensity and duration; certainty and uncertainty.

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John Stuart Mill was concerned that Bentham’s theory was limited to a certain extent that law was the primarily concern. So he introduced a theory of utility for the common person which also substituted ‘pleasure’ for ‘happiness’ and moved from mere quantity to evoking the quality of happiness as well.  Mill distinguished that there were two forms of pleasure, higher pleasures and lower pleasures. He wrote “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig dissatisfied, better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied” The mind will be stimulated from the higher pleasures and the body ...

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2/5 The student makes lots of accurate and good points in this essay and describes utilitarianism for the most part correctly (with the exception of the second question where a number of mistakes are made). Unfortunately the student does not answer either of the questions that have been set. In consequence almost everything that has been written is irrelevant.