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Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism. Lesson # 4. Utilitarianism. What does Utilitarianism mean?. Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism: The ethical doctrine that actions derive their moral quality from their usefulness as means to some end, especially as means productive of happiness or unhappiness.

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Utilitarianism

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  1. Utilitarianism Lesson # 4

  2. Utilitarianism What does Utilitarianism mean?

  3. Utilitarianism • Utilitarianism: • The ethical doctrine that actions derive their moral quality from their usefulness as means to some end, especially as means productive of happiness or unhappiness. • The doctrine, in civics and politics, that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the sole end and criterion of all public action. • Devoted to mere material interests and aims

  4. Utilitarianism • Who was Jerry Bentham? • Who was John Stuart Mill?

  5. Utilitarianism • “Contemporary Utilitarianism” • “Rule utilitarianism” • Explain the differences, or is there a difference?

  6. Utilitarianism • The Chief Executive Officer of large corporations often earn from 18 to 30 times more per year as the average employee in those corporations. • Can you think of a Utilitarian defense for this “salary pyramid”? • Can your think of some objections that a Utilitarian might raise to this radically unequal distribution of economic benefits?

  7. Utilitarianism • Some midshipmen have argued, during lecture, that “the ends cannot justify the means” in moral choices. • Does the utilitarian say that the ends can justify the means?

  8. Utilitarianism • Do you think that Mill’s version of utilitarianism is an improvement of Bentham’s? • What is the chief difference? • Can you think of situations in which an action that wold maximize happiness would, nonetheless, be a wrong act? • Give some examples and explain them?

  9. Utilitarianism • Your military strategists have targeted a significant munitions factory located next to a children’s hospital. Obliterating the factory is crucial to the success of your overall campaigning. Any hit on the factory will impact the hospital. • How would you decide what to do using Utilitarian principles? • Do you find the Utilitarian recommendations morally satisfactory?

  10. Utilitarianism Exercise • Directions: You are a group of survivors from a ship which is rapidly sinking. A lifeboat is near at hand but it can only hold ten people. The waters outside of the boat are dangerous, insuring death for those who do not make it aboard the life boat. How long they will survive in the frigid, shark infested waters is unclear - just that they will indeed die.

  11. Utilitarianism Questions • How was the decision made? Did a leader naturally emerge from the group? • Were the rights of the less fortunate considered? • Did the survivors feel remorse for the shipmates they consigned to death? • Was there a consistent theory (or philosophy) which guided the decision making?

  12. Utilitarianism“The One’s Who Walk Away from Omelas” • Can someone summarize the story ? • What did the story mean to you? • How did you relate it to utilitarianism? • Do you think something like this could happen?

  13. Utilitarianism“The One’s Who Walk Away from Omelas” • You are a group of citizens, responding to complaints in a CNN report broadcast worldwide, exposing the dark secret of Omelas. Your fear that U.N. troops may be called in to rectify the situation, and you seek to justify your form of government to the international community. • What do you say in defense of your society?

  14. Utilitarianism“The One’s Who Walk Away from Omelas” • The U.N. has asked the United States to provide a team of Navy Seals or MEU (SOC) Marines to invade Omelas as an act of humanitarian military intervention to rescue the child. You are members of the unit selected for the mission. You are discussing your own personal opinions of this operation. • What reason do you give yourself and each other, for and against the value of this mission?

  15. Utilitarianism“The One’s Who Walk Away from Omelas” • The government of Omelas reports that the child has died. A new child must be found to replace him. Your family has benefited for generations from this system. Now the government is asking you to turn over your newborn child to serve as the secret source of happiness for the community. Do you comply? Should you? Why/why not?

  16. UtilitarianismSuspending Moral Judgment: Students Who Refuse to Condemn the Unthinkable • What is the story about? • Did you agree with the students’ point of view? • Why was the teacher’s opinion so negative?

  17. UtilitarianismSuspending Moral Judgment: Students Who Refuse to Condemn the Unthinkable • What did the teacher mean when she made the following statement: “I hoped my students would take to heart, becoming more analytical about why things are done as they are.”

  18. Utilitarianism“A Critique of Utilitarianism”by Bernard Williams • What are some reasons for Jim to shoot one Indian? • What are some reasons for Jim to not shoot one Indian?

  19. Utilitarianism“Society and the Bomb” • Who was Henry L. Stimson? • Why did he advise President Truman to drop the bomb?

  20. Utilitarianism“Society and the Bomb” • Is killing the innocent always wrong, no matter what the consequences? • Would you side with Stimson or Ford about the morality of dropping the bomb?

  21. Utilitarianism“Society and the Bomb” • Do you agree that in some circumstances the use of nuclear weapons is morally permissible? • A tenet of Utilitarianism is that each person counts for one and only one. On this view then is there a difference between the moral worth of the lives of a civilian and a combatant? In light of this, ought there to be a difference?

  22. Utilitarianism • Question/Problem: Jeremy Bentham talks about measuring pleasure and pain using what amounts to a formula ( for a group, it measures intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and extent.). This calculation allows a utility based decision to be made on virtually any subject. Evaluate the utility of the party using Bentham’s formulation.

  23. Reading Assignment • Kantian Ethics (Ethics for Military Leaders) • Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals • An Overview of Kant’s Ethics • The Obligations of Officer-ship • The SAFEGUARD Case • The Death of a Marine • Articles • U.S. Military Takes Aim at Adultery • By Tamara Jones • Military Life Leaves Marriage At Breaking Point • By Dale Russakoff

  24. Reading Assignment(Continued) • Naval Leadership (Voice of Experience) • Section 12 pages 92 through 97 • Section 21 pages 148 through 154 • Section 22 pages 154 through 156 • Ethics and Moral Reasoning • Lesson 19 pages 19-5 to 19-6

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