Chapter II -

Utilitarianism
Topic 1: The Principle of Utility
 Intended Learning Outcomes
1. Discuss the basic principles of utilitarian ethics;
2. Distinguish between two utilitarian models; the
quantitative model of Jeremy Bentham and the qualitative
model of John Stuart Mill; and
3. Apply Utilitarianism in understanding and evaluating local
and international scenarios
 Utilitarianism
- An ethical theory that argues for the goodness of pleasure and the
determination of right behavior based on the usefulness of the
action’s consequences.
- Pleasure is good, the goodness of an action is determined by its
usefulness.
- One’s actions or behavior are good inasmuch as they directed
toward the experience of the greatest pleasure over pain for the
greatest number of persons.
 Utilitarianism
- Its root word is “utility”, which refers to the usefulness of
the consequences of one’s action and behavior.
- When we argue that wiretapping is permissible because
doing so results in better public safety, then we are
arguing in a utilitarian way, It is utilitarian because we
argue that some individual rights can be sacrificed for the
sake of the greater happiness of the many.
 Utilitarianism

- Utilitarianism is consequentialist. This means that

moral value of actions and decisions is based
solely or greatly on the usefulness of their
consequences
- It is the usefulness of the results that determines
whether the action or behavior is good or bad.
 Utilitarianism
For Bentham and Mill, utility refers to a way of
understanding the results of people’s actions. Specifically,
they are interested on whether theses actions contribute or
not to the total amount of resulting happiness in the world.
 The Principle of Utility
Our actions are governed by two “sovereign masters”
called pleasure and pain (An Introduction to the Principles
and Morals and Legislation (1789) by Jeremy Bentham).

Pleasure – desire, inclination, source of delight and joy

Pain – Discomfort, distress, suffering
 The Principle of Utility
• On one hand, the principle refers to motivation of our
actions as guided by our avoidance of pain and our
desire for pleasure. On the other hand, the principle also
refers to pleasure as good if, and only if, they produce
more happiness, than unhappiness.
• Bentham: happiness = pleasure
 The Principle of Utility
• John Stuart Mill support Bentham’s principle of utility. He
reiterates moral good as happiness and, consequently,
happiness as pleasure.
• We act and do things because they are pleasurable and we
avoid doing things because they are painful.
• Bentham and Mill characterize moral value as utility and
understood it as whatever produced happiness or pleasure
and the avoidance of pain.
 The Principle of Utility

• For Bentham and Mill, the pursuit for pleasure and

the avoidance of pain are not only important
principles – they are in fact the only principle in
assessing an action’s morality.
• Bentham – Moral preferability of pleasure
• Mill – Theory of life
 The Principle of Utility
• Moral Preferability – Bentham provides a framework for
evaluating pleasure and pain commonly called felicific calculus.
• common currency framework that calculates the pleasure that
some actions can produce
Felicific Calculus by Jeremy Bentham
Action is evaluated on the basis of:
a.) intensity or strength of pleasure;
b.) duration or length of the experience of pleasure;
c.) certainty, uncertainty, or the likelihood that pleasure will
occur; and
d.) propinquity, remoteness, or how soon there will be
pleasure.
Felicific Calculus by Jeremy Bentham
When we evaluate our tendency to choose these actions, we need to
consider three more dimensions:
1. Fecundity or the chance it has of being followed by sensations of
the same kind
2. Purity or the chance it has of not being followed by sensations of
the same kind, and purity or the chance it has of not being
followed by sensations of the opposite kind
3. Extent or number of persons who are affected by pleasure or pain
Felicific Calculus by Jeremy Bentham
Actions are evaluated on this single scale regardless of
preferences and values. In this sense, pleasure and pain can only
quantitatively differ but not qualitatively differ from other experiences
of pleasure and pain accordingly.
 Felicific Calculus in action example:
You are a doctor driving to a patient, a young mother who is
about to give birth. It looks like she will need a Caesarian section.
It is late at night and you come across a car accident on the
country road you are travelling on. Two cars are involved in the
accident and both drivers are unconscious and have visible
injuries. One of the men is the father of the child you are going to
deliver, and the other man is very old. You do not know the extent
of their injuries but in your opinion, without immediate medical
help, one or both may die.
 You as a Utilitarian are now faced with
one of three possible solutions:
1. You help the young mother who's about to give birth.
2. You help the young woman's husband.
3. You help the old man.
 The outcome of felicific calculus would suggest:

Attending to the mother first is your primary concern as the

doctor. The death of both mother and child is almost a certainty
if you do not act now, whereas the death of the men is
uncertain. Furthermore, the pain of the mother is clearly greater
than that of the men at this time. There is a greater richness
and purity in saving the life of a young child who has, in all
probability, a long happy life ahead. Therefore the extent and
duration of the utility created by these two people is a clear
likelihood.
 The outcome of felicific calculus would
suggest:
Attending to the young husband is the next priority. The
pleasures of a new family—its intensity, duration, extent,
richness, and purity—are all clear probabilities. If, as the doctor,
you attend him first his wife and child would in all probability die.
The man would then experience pain. The pain experienced by
the widowed husband is likely to outstrip any pleasure to be
gained from continued life without his loved ones.
 The outcome of felicific calculus would
suggest:
Attending to the old man is the last priority. The duration
and certainty of his future pleasure are questionable owing
to his age—he has all but lived his life. This is sometimes
known as the 'good innings' argument, according to which
the older you are the less claim you have to life.
 Mill’s view of Bentham’s single scale of
pleasure
• Mill thinks that the principle of utility must distinguish pleasures
qualitatively and not merely quantitatively.
• Utilitarianism cannot promote the kind of pleasures appropriate to
pigs or to any other animals.
• There are higher intellectual and lower base pleasures.
• Some kinds of pleasures are more desirable and more valuable
than others.
 Mill’s view of Bentham’s single scale of
pleasure
• Contrary to Bentham, Mill argues that quality is
more preferable than quantity. An excessive
quantity of what is otherwise pleasurable might
result in pain.
 Example:
Our experience of excessive eating or exercising. Whereas
eating the right amount of food can be pleasurable,
excessive eating may not be. The same is true when
exercising. If the quality of pleasure is sometimes more
important than quantity, then it is important to consider the
standards whereby differences of pleasures can be judged.
John Stuart Mill’s View on Utilitarianism:

In deciding over two comparable pleasures, it is

important to experience both and to discover which one is
actually more preferred than the other. There is no other
way of determining which of the two pleasures is preferable
except by appealing to the actual preferences and
experiences.
John Stuart Mill’s View on Utilitarianism:
• What Mill discovers anthropologically is that actual choices of
knowledge persons point that higher intellectual pleasures are
preferable than purely sensual appetites.
• While it is difficult to understand how Mill was able to compare:
swinish pleasures with human ones, it is better to be dissatisfied as
human than being satisfied as a swine/pig/animal.