Understanding Utilitarianism: Measuring Consequences for Ethical Decision Making

1. 4. Measuring Consequences Objectives of these slides: to describe utilitarianism, an ethical theory based on the consequences of actions

2. Overview 1. The Results-Oriented Approach 2. Utilitarianism 3. The Hedonistic Calculus 4. The Quality of Pleasure 5. Judgement 6. Drawbacks Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

3. 1. The Results-Oriented Approach • It tries to answer “How much actual good/happiness is produced as a consequence of an action?” • a practical measure • fairly uncomplicated • Sometimes called the teleological approach • telos = end/outcome • logis = ‘the study of’ / ‘the science of’ continued Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

4. Roughly corresponds to the first category of rights in the Universal Declaration. • A problem: how to evaluate the consequences of an action before it is carried out? • we must imagine all the likely outcomes • our evalaution requires judgement/guesswork Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

5. 2. Utilitarianism • Evalauate actions based on how useful they are in improving life • developed by Jeremy Bentham • An action is morally good to the extent that it produces a greater balance of pleasure over pain for the largest number of the people involved • “the greatest good of the greatest number” continued Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

6. Different forms of utilitarianism are central to modern decision-making • law, public policy • cost-benefit, risk-benefit analysis in business Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

7. Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832) Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

8. Egoism is Different • Egoism specifies that a person should act to maximise only the consequences for themselves. • Egoism is not the same as utilitarianism. Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

9. 3. The Hedonistic Calculus • The measurement of pleasure involves 7 elements: • 1. the intensity of the feeling • 2. its duration • 3. the certainty or uncertainty of it happening • 4. how soon it will be felt (propinquity) • 5. whether it will produce additional pleasures (fecundity) • 6. whether it has unhappy side-effects (purity) • 7. the number of people affected (extent) Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

10. 3.1. Stealing from an Old Lady Old Lady You1. Intensity -10 +22. Duration -10 -23. Certainty -10 +74. Propinquity -10 +85. Fecundity +1 +106. Purity -8 -47. Extent -2 +2Total -49 +23 Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

11. 3.2. Party Time Party Help Friend1. Intensity 2. Duration 3. Certainty 4. Propinquity 5. Fecundity 6. Purity 7. Extent Total +9 +3+5 +3+7 +10+8 +8+8 +5-6 -1+5 +5+36 +33 Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

12. 3.3. “The Torture Fight” TV Show • A TV show of hand-to-hand fighting between two volunteers. The winner gets receives $2 million, the loser $1 million. The loser is also tortured in front of the cameras. • there are 40 million viewers each week continued Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

13. Utilitarianism (“the greatest hapiness of the greatest number”) would give a positive evaluation for the show. What’s wrong? • All pleasures are not equal • e.g. watching torture compared to listening to music Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

14. 4. The Quality of Pleasure • John Stuart Mill modified utilitarianism to include a measure of the quality of the pleasures involved in an action . • This was estimated by asking people who had the greatest experience with the pleasures to rank them. continued Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

15. This approach assumes that an rational human would value pleasures that exercise the higher faculties over the lower ones. • Higher faculties: intelligence, mental pleasure, education, sensitivity to others, morality, health • very close to the needs in the Universal Declaration • Lower faculties: stupidity, ignorance, selfishness, laziness, physical pleasures. Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

16. John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873) Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

17. 4.1. Long-Term Consequences • Generally, higher faculty pleasures are better than lower faculty pleasures in the long run. • For example, listening to music over a long period improves a person’s enjoyment of music. Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

18. 4.2. Party Time / Torture Fight Again • Keeping your word to a friend is a higher form of pleasure than getting drunk at a party. • Watching enough “Torture Night” shows will insensitise the viewer to violence • eventually society as a whole will see violence as an acceptable norm (behaviour) • violence of all types will increase Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

19. 5. Judgement • The results-oriented approach is not just a matter of number-crunching, but requires imagination and judgement to assess all the consequences • long-term consequences are the hardest to predict, but often the most important continued Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

20. Many of the elements in the results-oriented approach are intangible: • possible outcomes • judgements about degrees of pleasure • future consequences • The morality of an act depends on the (perceived) context. Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

21. 6. Drawbacks • The happiness of the many outweighs the happiness of the few • not so good for minorities • It is very difficult to predict all the consequences of an action • This approach can be misused to justify awful actions if the results are good • “the ends justify the means” continued Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4

22. The results-oriented approach requires us to be forever calculating consequences for every action • rather tiring • One solution: rule utilitarians suggest the use of default general rules which maximise happiness in most cases • “keep your promises” • “tell the truth” Comp. Ethics: Conseqs/4