PHL 612 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Jeremy Bentham, Ethical Egoism, Preference Utilitarianism
28 Sep 2017
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Consequences based on utility or disutilities that come about by the action telos = end / outcome. Deciding what creates happiness and unhappiness (b/c) hedonism - subjective accounts of the good, and maximization of positive utility and. Utility is measurable (hedonic calculus) which shows who is benefited or harmed by action let to utilitarianism to be branded act utilitarianism in contrast to mill"s rule. Every act is quantifiable as to how much net utility it would generate. When we have added or summed all expected utilities and subtract disutilities, we are morally obligated to choose option that will have the greatest overall net utility. Note: not required to consider distribution of utilities (whether it"s great disutility) Criticism: distribution insensitive (e/f/g) agent neutrality, impartiality and universality. Bentham - every action is to promote or oppose happiness. Criticism: psychological egoism each of us can only aim at our own happiness/ pleasure. Other regarding moral perspective is contrast to utilitarian moral theory w/
