MR. JOVEN F.

ANDRADA
Ethical Judgments
 Ethical philosophy differs
from the sciences because it
is normative or prescriptive,
rather than descriptive.
 In other words, ethics tell us
how we ought to act or what
we should do, while the
sciences are more likely to
observe how things are in
nature or society.
Making Ethical Judgments
 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.
 Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham’s Utilitarianism
 Recognized as ‘Act Utilitarian’
 Right actions result in ‘good or
pleasure,’ wrong actions result in pain
or absence of pleasure.
 ‘Max pleasure/min suffering morality
criticized as “pig-philosophy” 
 Hedonic Calculus
Making Ethical Judgments in Utilitarianism

 Utilitarianism says that the

Result or the Consequence of an
Act is the real measure of
whether it is good or bad.
 This theory emphasizes Ends
over Means.
 Theories, like this one, that
emphasize the results or
consequences are called
teleological or consequentialist.
 Formulation of Utilitarianism

 Man is under two great masters, pain and pleasure.

 The great good that we should seek is happiness. (a
hedonistic perspective)
 Those actions whose results increase happiness or
diminish pain are good. They have “utility.”
Four Theses of Utilitarianism
 Consequentialism: The rightness of
actions is determined solely by their
consequences.
 Hedonism: Utility is the degree to
which an act produces pleasure.
Hedonism is the thesis that pleasure or
happiness is the good that we seek and
that we should seek.
 Maximalism: A right action produces
the greatest good consequences and
the least bad.
 Universalism: The consequences to
be considered are those of everyone
affected, and everyone equally.
Two Formulations of Utilitarian Theory
 Principle of Utility: The best
action is that which
produces the greatest
happiness and/or reduces
pain.
 Greatest Happiness: We
ought to do that which
produces the greatest
happiness and least pain for
the greatest number of
people.
 Act:  An Action is right if and only if it
produces the greatest balance of pleasure
over pain for the greatest number.  (Jeremy
Bentham)

Two Types of
Utilitarianism
Rule:  An action is right if and only if it
conforms to a set of rules the general
acceptance of which would produce the
greatest balance of pleasure over pain for the
greatest number.      (John Stuart Mill)
 Application of
Utilitarian Theory
 A) You attempt to help an elderly man across
the street. He gets across safely.
 Conclusion: the Act was a good act.
 B) You attempt to help an elderly man across
the street. You stumble as you go, he is
knocked into the path of a car, and is hurt.
 Conclusion: The Act was a bad act.
 If you can use eighty soldiers as a decoy in war, and
thereby attack an enemy force and kill several
hundred enemy soldiers, that is a morally good
choice even though the eighty might be lost.
 If lying or stealing will actually bring about more
happiness and/or reduce pain, Act Utilitarianism says
we should lie and steal in those cases.
Problems with Utilitarianism

 Don’t always know the

consequences of our actions
 Difficulty in measuring pleasure
and happiness
 May be counterintuitive –
sacrifice one to save many
 Concerned only with ends – only
the bottom line matters
 Does not take moral significance
of individuals seriously enough,
we are mere conduits of utility
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.
 Mill argues that we must consider the
quality of the happiness, not merely the
quantity.
John Stuart
Mill’s
Adjustments to
Utilitarianism
For example, some might find happiness
with a pitcher of beer and a pizza.  Others
may find happiness watching a fine
Shakespearean play. The quality of
happiness is greater with the latter. 
John Stuart Mill’s
Utilitarianism
 •Lower pleasures: eating,
drinking, sexuality, etc.
 •Higher pleasures:
intellectuality, creativity
and spirituality.
 •‘Better to be Socrates
dissatisfied than a fool
satisfied’
 ACTIVITY 4
 Do you think that Mill’s version of utilitarianism is an
improvement of Bentham’s?  
 What is the difference?
 Can you think of situations in which an action that would
maximize happiness would, nonetheless, be a wrong act?
 Give some examples and explain them?