Health Sciences 2610F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Paul Boghossian, Philosophy Bites, Is Is

• School: Western University
• Department: Health Sciences
• Course: Health Sciences 2610F/G
• Professor: Ken Kirkwood

Document Summary

Utilitarianism is a philosophical theory primarily about how we should act. Is a theory of utility itself (ex. what makes life good for people) Is a principle about what we should do about that utility. We should produce as much as the well being as possible (maximize happiness / utility) Should act in a way to bring about the greatest good for the most amount of people. Bentham viewed pleasure as the only component of happiness and the only component of unhappiness is pain or suffering (hedonism) Therefore, the best life for a person is one in which they have the greatest balance in pleasure over pain. He believed we can use a program to calculate and get an answer about which choice is right and how we should live. Mill"s view of utilitarianism is more all encompassing of not just strictly pleasure.