Utilitarianism - How would a utilitarian answer the following question: Can the ends justify the means? - If Peter steals some would say he is morally wrong - Under utilitarianism what Peter has done is morally right - For utilitarians, stealing is neither bad or good - What makes it bad or good is the consequences it produces - In the example Peter stole the money from one person who has less need for money and gave it to three people who have more need for the money - So utilitarians justify the stealing - This justification is based on the calculations that the benefits of the theft outweigh the loss caused by the theft - - Peters act of stealing is morally right because it produces more good than bad The action produced more pleasure or happiness that pain and unhappiness - It increased net utility - Discussion is divided into three parts: - the first part explains what utilitarianism is - the second discusses some varieties (or types) of utilitarianism - the third explores whether utilitarianism is persuasive and reasonable What is Utilitarianism? - Form of consequentialism - For consequentialism, the moral rightness or wrongness of an act depends on the consequences it produces - On consequentialist grounds, action and inactions whose negative consequences outweigh the positive consequences will be deemed morally wrong while actions and inactions whose whose positive consequences outweigh negative consequences will be deemed morally right - On utilitarian grounds, actions and inactions which benefit few people and harm more people will be deemed morally wrong while actions and inactions which harm fewer people and benefit more people will be deemed morally right - Benefit and harm can be characterized in more than one way - Classical utilitarians such as Jermy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), they are defined in terms of happiness/unhappiness and pleasure/pain - On this view, actions and inaction that cause less pain or unhappiness and more pleasure and happiness than available alternative actions and inactions will be deemed morally right, while actions and inactions that cause more pain or unhappiness and less pleasure or happiness than available alternative actions and inactions will be deemed morally wrong - Pleasure and happiness are treated as synonymous in this context Utilitarians concern is how to increase their net utility - Their moral theory is based on the principle of utility which states that "the morally right action is the one that leads to the reduction of the maximum good". (Driver 2014) - For instance, a utilitarian may argue that although some armed robbers robbed a bank in a heist, as long as there are more people who benefit from the robbery than there are people who suffer from the robbery, the heist will be morally right rather than morally wrong - On the utilitarians premise, if more people suffer from the heist while fewer people benefit from it, the heist will be morally wrong - From the description of utilitarianism it is