1. Utilitarianism
 Jeremy Bentham-England (1748-1832): Utilitarian Principle
 An action is right from an ethical point of view if the sum total of
utilities produced by that act is greater than the sum total of utilities
produced by any other act the person could have performed at that
situation
 This principle assumes that positive and negative benefits can be
somehow measured
 To do in a particular situation:
 Determine possible alternative actions that are available/possible
 Estimate the direct and indirect benefits
 Choose the alternative that has greatest sum of utility

2. Utilitarianism
 Utilitarianism matches with views of majority
 Is an intuitive criteria employed by people when discussing
moral conduct
 Governments use utilitarianism principles in their economic
and welfare policies (social cost-benefit analysis)
 Problems of measurement:
 Difficult to know whether the utility would be maximised by one
giving out or the other receiving it or trading or exchanging
 Difficult to mesasure like value of life
 Predictability of result from an action

What is to count as benefit and what as cost (funding pubs!)

3. Utilitarianism
 Utilitarian reply to measurement objection:
 Consequences to be sufficiently measured to help
comparison and impartially weighted against each other
 Several common-sense criteria can be used
 Weigh goods based on needs (basic) and wants
 Measure in terms of monetary equivalents of similar
elements
 Utilitarians argue that every one puts an implicit price for
his/her life while taking decisions affecting his life

4. Concept of a Right
 Individual's entitlement to something
 If the entitlement is derived from a legal system, it is called a legal right
 Entitlements can also derive from a system of moral standards; such
rights are called moral rights or human rights
 Rights are powerful devices, in the sence that it may authorise a
person to do whatever not specified in law or morality
 Moral rights are tightly correlated with duties
 Moral rights provide individuals with autonomy and equality in free
pursuit of their interests
 Moral rights provide a basis for justifying one's action

5. Negative and Positive Rights
 Negative rights is distinguished by its type like privacy,
which others can not interfere; includes the right to destroy
personal property by himself
 Positive rights do more than impose negative rights. They
imply that some other agents have to provide them
 Clean environment
 Healthy food
 Opportunity to education

6. Rights and Duties
 Walmart and the 'pajamas'
 Microsoft and China operations
 UN Declaration of Human Rights:
 Right to own property alone and with association of
others
 Right to work, free choice of employment, favourable
conditions etc
 Right to just and favourable remuneration
 Right to form and join trade unions
 Right to rest and leisure, limitation on working hours

7. Contractual Rights and Duties
 Also called special rights and duties or special obligations
 Come with limited rights and correlative duties
 Attached to specific individuals; between particular individuals and
depends on a publicly accepted system of rules
 Both parties entering into a contract have full knowledge of nature of
agreement
 Neither party to a contract must intentionally misrepresent the facts of
the contract situation
 Neither party to the contract must be forced to enter the contract under
duress or coercion
 The contract must not bind the parties to an immoral act

8. Rights and Justice
 Utilitarian principle implies that certain
actions are morally right but or unjust or
violate people's rights
 Utilitarianism can go wrong in cases
involving social justice: majority of society
members want to enjoy cheap vegetables
denying those producing them a better
wages

9. Rights and Justice
 Rule utilitarian: Do not suppose that a particular
action will produce the greatest amount of utility
 An action is right from an ethical point of view if and only
if the action would be required by those moral rules that
are correct
 A moral value is correct if and only if the sum of total
utilities produced if everyone were to follow that rule is
greater than the sum total utilites produced if everyone
were to follow some alternative rule
 If a rule allows people to make an exception whenever
an exception will maximize utility

10. Rights and Justice
 Rule utilitarian: Do not suppose that a particular
action will produce the greatest amount of utility
 An action is right from an ethical point of view if and only
if the action would be required by those moral rules that
are correct
 A moral value is correct if and only if the sum of total
utilities produced if everyone were to follow that rule is
greater than the sum total utilites produced if everyone
were to follow some alternative rule
 If a rule allows people to make an exception whenever
an exception will maximize utility

11. Kant's Categorical Imperatives
 Immanuel Kant – German (1724-1804)
 Everyone should be treated as a free person equal to
everyone else
 First Formulation of Categorical Imperative:
 An action is morally right for a person in a certain situation if, and
only if, the person's reason for carrying out the action is a reason
that he or she would be willing to have every person act on,in any
similar situation

“Do unto others as you would have them to unto you”

12. Kant's Categorical Imperatives
 Second Formulation of Categorical Imperative:
 An action is morally right for a person if, and only if, in performing
the action, the person does not use others merely as a means for
advancing his or her own interests, but also both respects and
develops their capacity to choose freely for themselves
 Kantian Rigths:
 Have positive rights to work, food, clothing , housing and medical
care
 Have negative rights freedom of speech, thought, association and
right to privacy
 Have a contracual right to what they have been promised in
contracts

13. Limitations of Kantianism
 Whether one would be willing to have everyone follow a
certain policy
 Which right to be limited in favour of others? (noise
disturbing others)
 'Reversability' – Racial discrimination

14. Kantianism vs Utilitarianism
 In the system of utilitrianism, the end justifies the means
and actions are judged on the results not on the intentions
or motives
 In Kantianism, the motive is important and not the end
results
 Utilitarianism is one of the building blocks of democratic
system; Kantinism believes that democracy overlooks the
minorities and individuals
 Kantianism argues that any action can not be moral unless
the motives are moral

15. Kantianism vs Utilitarianism
Kantianism Utilitarianism
Its motive Its consequences
Basic value Autonomy Pleasure/happiness
Ethical imperative Respect autonomy
Choices evaluated from Impersonal point of view
Test for ethical correctness Utility calculation
Ethically relevant feature of
an act
Promote
pleasure/happiness
Chooser's point of
view
Categorical
imperative