Utility and Utilitarianism

1. Utility and Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism. The utilitarian tradition in ethics is based on three key figures: Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) J.S. Mill (1806-1873) Henry Sidgwick (1838-1900)

2. Utility and Utilitarianism “The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure.” John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (London: Parker, Son, and Bourn, 1863), 9-10.

3. A Utilitarian Decision Matrix

4. Utility: A Contested Concept Bentham: “Prejudice apart, the game of push-pin is of equal value with the arts and sciences of music and poetry. If the game of push-pin furnish more pleasure, it is more valuable than either.” Mill: “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.” Jeremy Bentham, The Rationale of Reward (London: Robert Heward, 1830), 206. John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (London: Parker, Son, and Bourn, 1863), 14.

5. Utility: A Philosophical Fiction “… there are too many different kinds of enjoyable activity, too many different modes in which happiness is achieved. And pleasure or happiness are not states of mind for the production of which these activities and modes are merely alternative means. The pleasure-of-drinking-Guinness is not the pleasure-of-swimming-at-Crane’s Beach, and the swimming and the drinking are not two different means for providing the same end-state. The happiness which belongs peculiarly to the way of life of the cloister is not the same happiness as that which belongs peculiarly to the military life. For different pleasures and different happinesses are to a large degree incommensurable: there are no scales of quality or quantity on which to weigh them.” “… utilitarianism appeared in a variety of social embodiments and left its mark upon a variety of social roles and institutions. And these remained as an inheritance long after utilitarianism had lost the philosophical importance which John Stuart Mill’s exposition had conferred upon it.” Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, 3d ed. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007), 64, 65.

6. Human Rights: Another Philosophical Fiction It is important to be clear on the type of rights that MacIntyre is arguing against. They have the following features: • They “attach equally to all individuals, whatever their sex, race, religion, talents or deserts…” • They are more basic than and exist prior to any social institution. • Their existence is either self-evident or it can be known through intuition or proved by rational argument. • They explain why certain actions are wrong or right; I should not torture my fellow human beings because they have a right not to be tortured. “…the existence of particular types of social institution or practice is a necessary condition for the notion of a claim to the possession of a right being an intelligible type of human performance… Lacking any such social form, the making of a claim to a right would be like presenting a check for payment in a social order that lacked the institution of money.” Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, 3d ed. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007), 69, 67.

7. Rights vs. Utility “… protest is now almost entirely that negative phenomenon which characteristically occurs as a reaction to the alleged invasion of someone’s rights in the name of someone else’s utility. The self-assertive shrillness of protest arises because the facts of incommensurability ensure that protestors can never win an argument; the indignant self-righteousness of protest arises because the facts of incommensurability ensure equally that the protestors can never lose an argument either. Hence the utterance of protest is characteristically addressed to those who already share the protestors’ premises. The effects of incommensurability ensure that protestors rarely have anyone else to talk to but themselves. This is not to say that protest cannot be effective; it is to say that it cannot be rationally effective and that its dominant modes of expression give evidence of a certain perhaps unconscious awareness of this.” Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, 3d ed. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007), 71.