UTILITARIANISM (AQA)
Question bundle (5,12,25)
Utilitarianism revision questions 5 markers:
,1. What does utility mean and what role does it play in utilitarianism?
a. Utility is known as useful ness and therefore an action only has utility if it helps us achieve a
specific goal, however we must realise that for an action to have utility we need a goal/desire
put in place before anything. For general utilitarianism the end goal of our actions is to
achieve pleasure/happiness, an action is only useful if it brings about pleasure and minimises
pain.
2. What are the similarities and differences between psychological hedonism, hedonism and classic
utilitarianism?
a. Psychological hedonism is not a moral theory but a descriptive theory about human
motivation, claiming that the individual’s potential pleasure and avoidance of pain are the
sole aims of the individuals’ actions, hedonism meaning pleasure
b. Hedonism is a moral theory which claims that for each individual pursuing pleasure and
avoiding pain is the right thing to do, one is ought to seek pleasure
c. Classic utilitarianism, is a moral theory that claims that a right action is one that increases the
general happiness not just the individuals
d. Overall, psychological hedonism is different from hedonism and classic utilitarianism as it’s a
descriptive theory rather than a moral theory, hedonism and classic util. tells us how to live
the right way, how to become moral people
3. How do Bentham/Mill justify classic utilitarianism?
a. Bentham says that avoiding pain and pleasure are our two masters, ‘nature has placed
mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure’, he also claims
that avoiding pain and seeking pleasure are the ends of human action and suggests that pain
and pleasure can form the basis of utilitarianism, therefore bringing about pleasure and
avoiding pleasure is the right thing to do.
4. Explain the following three criticisms of psychological hedonism.
a. Summary: Psychological hedonism= pleasure is the ultimate end of our actions, pleasure
machine is when you are either willing to go into a machine that you are hooked up to and
you receive pleasure, you get guaranteed pleasure however you cannot come out. This
experiment is trying to prove the truth of psychological hedonism however many of us would
refuse to sign up. Mill may respond to this by saying this machine only focuses on lower
pleasures e.g., physical sensations
b. Criticism: it is not pleasure we seek but states of affairs in the world- things outside our
heads
i. The pleasure machine thought experiment was an experiment to show that what
humans seeks was pleasure and this was inside of our heads, however this may be
wrong. People may want specific states of affairs in the world e.g their children to
be happy, or for people to think well of them, or to overcome poverty. If internal
sensations were the main goal then the majority of us would step into the pleasure
machine however many of us refuse to as what we seek are things in the real world
not sensations or deceptions.
c. It is not pleasure we seek but the specific actions, activities and objects themselves
i. E.g., in a sticker collection you want the final sticker, however Bentham would claim
that the sticker is a means to your ultimate aim (which is to gain pleasure), but it can
be argued it’s the sticker they want not the pleasure, Sid wick claims that it is
specific activities and objects in life we desire and not pleasure itself e.g. intrinsic
qualities as if it was just pleasure we could settle for alternative options in order for
us to feel pleasure
d. Pleasure is a way talking about behaviour not sensations
i. E.g. you can gain pleasure from books which you seek to do but there does not
seem to be a mental sensation linking them all together, behaviourism claims that
pleasure is not a specific sensation but a way about talking about doing things we
seek to do. If this is true the theory of psychological hedonism is false. It is clearer
, that pleasure is a mental sensation it could be just a way about talking about doing
activities we prefer to do – preference utilitarianism.
5. What is the utility principle and how does it link to utilitarianism?
a. The utility principle suggests that we must follow a moral system that invokes us to maximise
happiness and minimise pain, for both the individual and the sum of individuals in a
community. Previous we saw object has utility if achieved a specific goal, Bentham claims
that pleasure and avoiding pain are goals we pursue and therefore an action has utility if it
helps bring about pleasure/ happiness.
6. What is the utility calculus and how does it play a role in utilitarianism?
a. Bentham’s utility calculus offers a guide on how we are supposed to apply the principle of
utility e.g., how to measure the amount of pleasure and pain an action brings, so Bentham
termed the method of calculating and measuring pain and pleasure of actions as hedonic
calculus. These factions included the intensity, the duration, the certainty, remoteness,
fecundity, purity and extent of pleasure/pain, all these factors are used to calculate if this is
the morally right action, the utility calculus is a guide on how to abide to the utility principle.
7. Explain the two criticisms of quantitative hedonistic utilitarianism (i.e., Bentham’s utilitarianism)
a. It is impossible to compare pleasures
i. Some people would claim that we cannot compare the pleasures as they are such
different things and therefore don’t hold a common currency which we can
compare, this is difficult just withing one person as each person can gain different
amounts of pleasures from the same activity.
b. Is quantity the only factor?
i. Using utilitarianism, the quantity of pleasure is the indicator of the utility of action,
this is why this theory is called quantitative hedonistic utilitarianism, however Mill
argues that the type of activity we gain from pleasure we should take into account
to as some pleasures can be regarded as higher or lower pleasures.
8. How has utilitarianism identified being consequentialist or teleological instead of deontology?
a. Utilitarianism is identified as being consequentialist as the moral worth of an action is based
upon the consequences it presents not the motive, it is the end outcome that gives it its
worth. It is not deontology as the actions moral worth depends on the action being done
under a series of rules e.g., Kant’s theory however utilitarianism is solely focused on the
end/outcome. Consequentialist theories can feel counter-intuitive. Telos = end goal
(pleasure)
9. How has utilitarianism become identified as act-centred not agent centred?
a. Agent centred theories are more holistic and they judge a person based on the persons
whole life, act centred theories are based upon specific actions that show a person’s moral
status, if one bad action is done however overall, its good actions then the person isn’t
considered to be morally bad. Act centred theories include utilitarianism and Kant whereas
agent centred theories include Aristotle’s virtue ethics.
10. Why did Bentham reject motive-based ethics and how did this inform his views on the proper role of
government?
a. Bentham is a psychological hedonist and therefore motive = is a red flag as everyone would
have the same motive of trying to achieve pleasure, people may have different terms on how
to achieve this pleasure but their motive was the same. Bentham wrote for governments,
and realised that if everyone was motivated to maximise their own happiness what’s the
point in telling them to maximise the general happiness? Therefore, the government’s role is
to align people’s intentions to the pursuit of individual happiness with the pursuit of general
happiness.
11. How has utilitarianism been criticised for promoting social engineering?
