PHI 1102 Lecture 4: Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide II
11 Jul 2016
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Document Summary
Balance of utility goes down when people are dissatis ed. Utilitarian theories asses acts/moral rules on nothing but their utility. Classical utilitarianism: utility = pleasure, absence of pain. Current model: utility = ful lment of desire, satisfaction of preferences. Other goods that can promote utility / contribute to well-being: (preferences can change about what contributes to well being, health, etc: knowledge. More information tends to have more utility: autonomy (control of own life, religion issues. !1 the actual outcome does not make you as happy as you thought you would be. Rule utilitarianism: follow the rule with the greatest expected utility, moral assessments of actions are indirect: actions are judged by the rules they follow, not exceptions for speci c cases, advantages (hooker) Less demanding than act-utilitarianism, not looking at single cases. Breaking the law need not necessarily be morally wrong. Wants to nd the rules / laws applied to euthanasia that will have the best outcome.
