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According to Bentham, the morally correct act is that which brings the greater amount of pleasure to the largest number of people. What problems do you foresee for such a view? How would you modify it? Do you agree that pleasure and pain motivate everything we do and should so motivate us?

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Utilitarianism: Part I, Bentham Summary and Clarification of Select Passages Jeremy Bentham lived from 1748–1832 and was the founder of the philosophical system called “Utilitarianism”. According to this doctrine, the single source of value or goodness is pleasure. A morally good action, then, is one that brings about the most happiness (understood as pleasure) for the largest amount of people. Because utilitarianism is concerned only with the amount of pleasure that is generated, it is therefore concerned only with consequences—and not at all with intentions, As you can see, it is the polar opposite of Kant’s view of ethics which was concerned only with intention, specifically the intention or will to do one’s duty. Chapter 1 (pp. 8–9) According to Bentham, pleasure and pain motivate and determine everything we do. It is the guiding force for all that we actually do and should also be the guiding force for everything we ought to do (how we must act if we want to act morally). As Bentham says, Utilitarianism accepts this fact about reality and uses it as the foundation of its ethical doctrine. A morally good action is one that brings about the greatest pleasure or happiness for all people involved—both the one who is acting and the recipients of the action. An immoral action would be one that generates more pain. The question is then how do we determine—before we act—which action will bring about more pleasure and therefore be the better act to perform. Bentham attempts to answer this question by providing a system for precisely calculating the pleasures involved in each act we undertake. Let us now turn to Chapter IV to examine Bentham’s calculus. Chapter IV Bentham here provides a list of criteria by which we can quantify the amount of pleasure or pain a particular act will give to us and others. Each criteria is rated on a scale of one to ten with respect to both the pleasure and the pain it generates. 1. Intensity (Example: a cold glass of water on a very hot day will bring an intense pleasure) 2. Duration (How long does the pleasure or pain last? One second or many days?) 3. Certainty (How certain are you to receive the pleasure or pain? Is there a chance you might not? If the chance is slim you might give it a “1” here. If you are absolutely certain, a “10”.) 4. Propinquinty (How near or far is the pleasure or pain? In other words, will you have to wait quite a while (“1” or “2”) or is it immediate (“9” or “10”)?) 5. Fecundity (How productive will it be of future pleasures or pains? If it will lead to many future pleasures (or pains as the case may be) the number will be high.) 6. Purity (How pure is the pleasure or the pain? Is it more of a mixture? The purer it is, the higher the score.) (We will leave aside #7 for the time being) 1 To calculate the amount of pleasure you will receive from a given action, you must calculate the pleasures (according to the above criteria) that accompany the action, and then calculate the pains (also according to the six criteria). Once you have both quantities (one for pleasure and one for pain) you subtract the amount of pain from the amount of pleasure, which will give you the total value of the act. Let us now compare two actions according to this calculus to see which act is more valuable. We will here compare one hour of reading Kant with one hour of watching your favorite TV show. I will use the example of Desperate Housewives. This calculus will assume the pleasure and pain that a typical student might feel while performing both of these acts. Reading Kant for 1 Hour Pleasure Pain Intensity 1 (not an intense pleasure at all) 5 (somewhat painful) Duration 2 (doesn’t last too long) 2 (pain doesn’t last too long) Certainty 1 (very unlikely you will enjoy it) 9 (very likely you will not enjoy it) Propinquity 7 (the little pleasure you will get won’t take too long) 9 (the pain is somewhat more immediate) Fecundity 3 (not very productive of future pleasures but will help with the exam, degree, etc.) 1 (probably won’t continue to suffer as a result) Purity 1 (not a very pure pleasure) 8 (the pain is purer) Total 15 points for pleasure 34 points for pain Calculate the numbers: 15 –34 –19 –19 points for pleasure (not very pleasurable) 2 Watching Desperate Housewives for 1 hour Pleasure Pain Intensity 6 (pretty funny) 1 (have to sit through commercials) Duration 2 (only an hour) 1 (commercials are short) Certainty 9 (confident it will be a good episode) 2 (maybe the commercials will be good) Propinquity 10 (will be immediately entertaining) 6 (won’t see the first commercial for a few minutes) Fecundity 3 (may talk about it with friends) 1 (whatever you didn’t like about the show/commercials you’ll forget shortly) Purity 8 (it’s pleasurable overall) 1 (not terribly painful) Total 38 points for pleasure 12 points for pain Calculation: 38 –12 26 26 points for pleasure (very enjoyable) When both acts are compared according to Bentham’s calculus, the morally better thing to do is to watch Desperate Housewives (no joke!) because it brings more pleasure, whereas reading Kant (or any difficult thinker) is going to bring more pain. To see that he really means this reread p. 94. 3 Lesson 14 Discussion According to Bentham, the morally correct act is that which brings the greater amount of pleasure to the largest number of people. What problems do you foresee for such a view? How would you modify it? Do you agree that pleasure and pain motivate everything we do and should so motivate us? 4
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