A similar criterion of optimality, however, can be applied to a wider class of decision problems. According to this theory, the value of an act is to be assessed on the basis of pleasure and pain. It addresses the meaning of ethical terms such as right, duty, obligation, justification, morality, responsibility. It is evident that this cannot be proof in the ordinary and popular meaning of the term. Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that places the locus of right and wrong solely on the outcomes consequences of choosing one actionpolicy over other actionspolicies. A utilitarian theory of political legitimacy ftp directory listing. Decision theory be interpreted as the longrun relative frequencies, and theexpected payo.
Thus, according to utilitarianism, utility is the value that should guide actions, programs and policies. According to hedonism, the main aim of life is the achievement of maximum pleasure. Utilitarianism john stuart mill batoche books faculty of social. Utilitarianism consequencebased ethics learning theories. In his second chapter, mill discusses the definition of utilitarianism, and presents some misconceptions about the theory. Utility theory from jeremy bentham to daniel kahneman a standard model of motivation is that a person has a desire y, and if they believe that by doing act x, they can achieve y. Utilitarian definition and meaning collins english.
Utilitarianism, kantian ethics, natural rights theories. This paper, which is to be published as a chapter in the handbook of social choice and welfare, provides a survey of utilitarianism as a theory of justice. They offer more inclusive theories of the good for example, counting goods like beauty or justice as independent of happiness or pleasure. Utilitarianism is a theory in philosophy about right and wrong actions. Conceptually, welfarist theory is built on four tenets. Utilitarianism is fundamentally welfarist in its philosophy. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes. A utilitarian philosophy is used when making social, economic or. Section 2 introduces, along with some basic definitions, socialevaluation functionals. Utilitarianism holds that whats ethical or moral is whatever maximizes total happiness while minimizing total pain.
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory according to which the rightness and wrongness of acts depends entirely on facts about the maximization of overall wellbeing. Times, sunday times 2010 eighteen months ago i realised that there was a hole. Brandt and lyons have tried to show that these two forms of utilitarianism are actually equivalent. According to this philosophy, an action is morally right if its consequences lead to happiness absence of pain, and wrong if it ends in unhappiness pain. Utilitarianism, in normative ethics, a tradition stemming from the late 18th and 19thcentury english philosophers and economists jeremy. Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics, or the ethics that define the morality of actions, as proposed by jeremy bentham and john stuart mill.
Questions of ultimate ends are not amenable to direct proof. Consequentialist decision theory and utilitarian ethics. Utilitarianism, by john stuart mill the selfdevelopment of the individual in his in. The work from which our reading is taken, utilitarianism, deepens and strengthens the greatest happiness principle of jeremy bentham and his. Expected utility theory crucial features utility degree of liking is defined by revealed preferences i. I some utilitarians even allow for there to be quanti able units of pain and pleasure. Any theory that seeks to extend benefits not only to the self but also to others is a form of altruism. Some of the other moral theories are utilitarian but not classical utilitarian. Todays session will focus on utilitarianism and the next on tuesday, 4th october will look at deontology. Pdf the utilitarian theory of lawan analysis researchgate. As such, it moves beyond the scope of ones own interests and takes into account the interests of others. Utilitarianism pronounced yootillihtareeeenism is one of the main schools of thought in modern ethics also known as moral philosophy. Whatever can be proved to be good, must be so by being shown to be a means to something admitted.
In other words, the happiness and general wellbeing of the majority should take priority over the individual. The history of utilitarianism stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Though not fully articulated until the 19 th century, proto utilitarian positions can be discerned throughout the history of ethical theory. Bc 270 bc epicurus, 1926, posits that the good life is one spent in pursuit of pleasure, defined simply as. Utilitarianism is a comprehensive doctrine claiming that the greatest amount of happiness is an end that should exclusively guide all actions of both government and individuals. What is the difference between kantianism and utilitarianism. Utilitarianism i the most common form of consequentialism is utilitarianism i utilitarianism combines consequentialism with the claim that the only valuable consequence is pleasure, and the only disvaluable consequence is pain. Our moral obligation, the right thing to do, is to maximize utility. Utilitarianism is a simple theory and its results are easy to apply. Classical utilitarianism differs from other moral theories primarily in what it omits rather than in what it includes. Utilitarianism is one of the most powerful and persuasive approaches to normative ethics in the history of philosophy. By utilitarianism is here meant the ethical theory, that the conduct which, under any given circumstances, is objectively right, is that which will produce the greatest amount of happiness on the whole.
Another goaldirected theory is egoism, which promotes the greatest good for the self alone. Utilitarianism focuses on the effects of an action. Utilitarianism meaning in the cambridge english dictionary. Utilitarianism definition is a doctrine that the useful is the good and that the determining consideration of right conduct should be the usefulness of its consequences. A philosophy that bases the moral worth of an action upon the number of people it gives happiness or pleasure to. Rule utilitarianism and decision theory springerlink. A utilitarian argument, in the strict sense, is one what alleges that we ought to do something because it will produce more total happiness than doing anything else would. Utilitarianism is one of the most powerful and persuasive approaches to. Application of the principle to healthcare requires a prior understanding of the welfarist theory as expounded by the economist. This is not limited to the happiness caused by a single action but also includes the happiness of. The fact that people value the happiness of those close to them more than that of strangers makes utilitarianism personally unacceptable to many, but it may still be a proper principle for government, given some. Utilitarianism as an ethical theory journal of ethics in mental. Act utilitarianism au is the moral theory that holds that the morally right action, the act. One of the most influential ethical frameworks, utilitarianism is focused on consequences and results.
As a normative system providing a standard by which an individual ought to act and by which the existing practices of society, including its moral code, ought to be evaluated and improved, utilitarianism cannot be verified or confirmed in the way in which a descriptive theory can. Ua ub iff a is preferred to chosen over b contradicted by preference reversals preferences are well ordered i. I define a utilitarian narrowly to be a consequentialist with an additively separable common. Utilitarianism definition of utilitarianism by merriam. Barry choice, rationality, and social theory 1988 the protestant view is more utilitarian. The third chapter is a discussion about the ultimate sanctions or rewards that utilitarianism can offer. It is the only moral framework that can be used to justify military force or war. This chapter provides a survey of utilitarian theories of justice. Utilitarian means based on the idea that the morally correct course of action is the one. Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number. Analysis of the language, concepts and methods of resoning in ethics.
Contemporary utilitarianism can be defined as the combination of act. Burns university college london doubts about the origin of benthams formula, the greatest happiness of the greatest number, were resolved by robert shackleton thirty years ago. Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that identifies the good with utility and the right with that which maximizes utility. Chapter 11 utilitarianism and the theory of justice. Utilitarianism is a family of consequentialist ethical theories that promotes actions that maximize happiness and wellbeing for the affected individuals. Utilitarianism is based on the principle of utility, which emphasizes on the idea of being more useful and beneficial for a majority.
Pdf the modern doctrine of sovereignty is derived basically from two thoughts. The original basis of this theory was hedonism, a psychological theory. Utility theory from jeremy bentham to daniel kahneman. Utility and quantities of good regardless of their particular specifications of the good to be maximized, all utilitarians would accept the following utilitarian principle of distribution. University of british columbia and greqam walter bossert. Utilitarianism sees happiness as existing in low and high pleasures. In all of these fields, utilitarianism has its proponents and utilitarian arguments are common. It is defined by utility, the existence of pleasure and the absence of pain. It says that the morally best action is the one that makes the most overall happiness or utility usefulness.
For mill, however, not all pleasures were equally worthy. From that century to the pre sent, six authors can be identified as having. One alternative is at least as good as another if and only if it has at least as great a total of peoples good. Utilitarianism center for the study of ethics in the. I we can give an easy model of the value of an action. It stresses the influence of utilitarianism in economics in general and in welfare economics in particular. The key motivation for this revised utilitarian theory is its unique ability to treat properly multistage ethical decisions, represented as ethical decision trees, while at the. Utilitarianism and the theory of justice by charles blackorby, walter bossert and david donaldson august 1999 prepared as chapter 20 of the handbook of social choice and welfare k.
The moral action is that which produces the greatest good for the greatest number. Also, this theory was developed as a result of an attempt to direct the lawmakers of england to consider the common good rather than the. By utilitarianism is here meant the ethical theory, that the conduct which, under any given circumstances, is objectively right, is that which will produce the greatest. After describing the difficulties of act utilitarianism, rule utilitarianism is discussed as a possibly superior alternative. The history of utilitarianism stanford encyclopedia of. To test brandts and lyonss equivalence thesis, a decisiontheoretical model for utilitarian theory is proposed. The fourth chapter discusses methods of proving the validity of utilitarianism.
351 1335 1146 422 494 418 113 152 944 476 1274 854 394 878 484 1218 833 1472 31 580 1343 1611 592 54 1511 1290 207 398 204 1307 756 1179 493 1233 537 830