There are many problems in life that need answers that cannot be found in books or any other source. A person needs to decide themselves what is the correct way to respond to the questions that life throws up. This is where ethical theory comes in useful. However, deciding which ethical theory to follow is extremely difficult. This article focuses on Utilitarianism.
Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was a lawyer and devised his theory of Utilitarianism in the late eighteenth century. It is a teleological approach because it focuses on the consequences of an action, as opposed to whether or not an action is intrinsically good in itself. As Bentham stated on his book An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, ‘by utility is meant that property of any object whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good or happiness.’ The theory is hedonistic; it focuses on the pursuit of pleasure. An action is good if it brings about the most amount of pleasure or happiness for the most people and the least amount of pain. For example, Bentham would argue that torturing one person who knows where a bomb is that will kill several people is a good act, because it would prevent the pain of the people who are affected by the bomb, including the families of those who die.
However, a problem with this is how to calculate happiness and pleasure; it is different for every person. To try and tackle this, Bentham devised the Hedonic Calculus. The Calculus takes into account seven options; intensity of the pleasure / happiness, duration, intensity, remoteness, certainty of the happiness coming about, fecundity, purity, extent. This approach takes into account the amount of pleasure derived from the action. This is therefore a quantitative approach.
John Stuart Mill
Mill was the son of Bentham’s friend and decided that although the principle of Bentham’s Utilitarianism was sound, the approach needed improving. He disagreed that pleasure was quantitative; he believed that different pleasures had different qualities. There were higher and lower pleasures, and higher pleasures should be prioritised. Lower pleasures include those that are essentially for basic human survival, for example food and drink. Higher pleasures are those which facilitate a higher brain function, for example an appreciation of fine art, or a beautiful view. Mill worried that the Hedonic calculus would allow lower pleasures to supersede the more important higher pleasures. Instead of the calculus, Mill introduced rules which must be taken into account within Utilitarianism. There are hard rule which must not be broken, and others which can be manipulated if needed, called soft rules.
Advantages
Utilitarian theory takes into account the well-being of the general population; it takes into account the consequences of an action. It is an easy ethic to use in a democracy; the dangerous minority cannot be in control. Also, it does not rely on religious belief and principles which cannot be verified.
Disadvantages
There are however, some disadvantages to the theory. It depends on accurately predicting the long term affects of the action, which cannot always be done. Also it does not take into account personal relationships, for example many would save their child from a burning bus, even if it is possible to save three other strangers in the time it takes to reach your child. It also can lead to ignoring the needs of the minority even though their claim is a just one. Finally, the theory is changeable, and does not help a person to decide what is universally good.
Religous Studies - Longman- Tyler and Reid
Samantha Dix - I am extremely interested in History, continuing my studies of it to degree level. I have a special interest in the Tudor period. I ...
