Moral Philosophy: Utilitarianism

1. The University of Cambodia
PHL 105: Moral Philosophy
Lectured by:
Mut Somoeun (M.Ed)

2. Utilitarianism
Jeremy Bentham
(1748-1832)
John Stuart Mill
(1806-1873)

3. Utilitarianism?
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory which states
that the best action is the one that maximizes
utility.
• Utility as the sum of all pleasure that results from
an action, minimize the suffering of anyone
involved in the action.
• A version of consequentialism, which states that
the consequences of any action are the only
standard of right and wrong.
• Considers the interests of all beings equally.

4. Utilitarianism?
– The moral philosophy that actions derive their moral
quality from their usefulness as means to some end,
especially as means productive of happiness or
unhappiness.
– Applied to civics and politics, the greatest happiness
of the greatest number should be the sole end and
criterion of all public action.

5. Utilitarianism?
• Utilitarians believe that the purpose of morality is to
make life better by increasing the amount of good things
(such as pleasure and happiness) in the world and
decreasing the amount of bad things (such as pain and
unhappiness).
• They reject moral codes or systems that consist of
commands or taboos that are based on customs, traditions,
or orders given by leaders or supernatural beings.

6. Utilitarianism?
• Act utilitarianism
– is an utilitarian theory of ethics which states that a
person's act is morally right if and only if it produces
at least as much happiness as any other act that the
person could perform at that time.
• Rule utilitarianism
– is a form of utilitarianism that says an action is right as
it conforms to a rule that leads to the greatest good, or
that "the rightness or wrongness of a particular action
is a function of the correctness of the rule of which it is
an instance".

7. Utilitarianism?

8. Utilitarianism
Jeremy Bentham’s Utilitarianism
• Right actions result in ‘good or pleasure,’ wrong
actions result in pain or absence of pleasure.
• ‘Maximize pleasure/minimize suffering

9. • The Fundamentals of Utilitarianism
– All humans by nature seek to attain pleasure
and avoid pain.
• “Nature has placed mankind under the
governance of two sovereign masters:
– pain
– and pleasure

10. Utilitarian Ethics
• We ought to perform actions which tend to
produce the greatest overall happiness for the
greatest number of people.
• This simple statement is the basic core idea of
utilitarianism and is also known as the Greatest
Happiness Principle.

11. Utilitarianism VS Deontology?
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12. Utilitarian Ideas
• Hedonistic Utilitarianism:
–An action is good when it maximizes the
amount of pleasure, leading to the minimum
amount of pain.
• Act Utilitarianism:
–Thinking about how our specific actions might
contribute to the welfare of others, or be
detrimental to it.

13. • Rule Utilitarianism:
– Only implementing rules (or laws), which will lead
to the well-being of the majority of people.
• Preference Utilitarianism:
– Thinking about how others would prefer us to act
(i.e. they would not want to suffer because of
something we do), even if they knew nothing
about our actions, or experienced no ill-effects as a
result of them.
Utilitarian Ideas

14. Basic Ideals Of Utility Theory
• The purpose of morality is to make the world a
better place.
• Morality is about producing good consequences,
not having good intentions
• We should do whatever will bring the most
benefit (i.e., the best outcome) to all of humanity.

15. The Purpose of Morality
• Utilitarians have a very simple answer to the question
of why morality exists:
– The purpose of morality is to guide people’s
actions in such a way as to produce a better world.
– Consequently, the emphasis in utilitarianism is on
consequences, not intentions.

16. Utilitarianism
One goal of utilitarianism is to provide a way to
resolve moral disputes.
Bentham notes that if we can all agree that Good =
Pleasure, then we can make moral progress
scientifically by determining which actions really do
produce the most pleasure.
His view is often called “Hedonistic Utilitarianism.”

17. Utilitarianism
John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism
• A more sophisticated form of Utilitarianism.
• Concerned with quality of pleasure and quantity of
people who enjoy it.
• Recognized higher and lower types of human
pleasure.

19. Utilitarianism
Act (Contemporary) Utilitarianism
“An act is right if and only if it results in as
much good as any available alternative.”

20. Utilitarianism
Rule Utilitarianism
“An act is right if and only if it is required
by a rule that is itself a member of a set of
rules whose acceptance would lead to
greater utility for society than any available
alternative.”

21. Utilitarianism
The ultimate moral principle is the Principle
of Utility.
The right thing to do, in any situation, is
whatever would produce the best overall
outcome for all those who will be affected by
your action.

22. Utilitarianism
“The greatest happiness for the greatest number”
1. The right thing to do is whatever would have the
best overall consequences.
2. Which consequences matter? What’s important is
human welfare—we want people to be as well-off
as possible.
3. Each person’s welfare is equally important.

23. Questions?