English Utilitarianism:
James Mill, Jeremy Bentham, J. S. Mill
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John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
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Major works: On Liberty (1859);
On Utilitarianism (1861); The Subjection of Women (1869).
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Gertrude Himmelfarb, On
Liberty
and Liberalism
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Bentham’s Quantitative Utilitarianism
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Bentham emphasizes.
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Bentham: "Others things being equal,
pushpin is as good as poetry.”
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National gladiator contests?
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Qualitative utilitarianism:
Utilitarianism: Hedonism + Consequentialism
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Psychological Hedonism.
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Ethical Hedonism
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Egoistic Hedonism:
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Nonegoistic Hedonism.
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Bentham’s hedonic calculus
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Six criteria for individual actions:
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Seventh criterion of “extent”.
A poem in honor
of the hedonic calculus
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Intense, long, certain, speedy, fruitful,
pure
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Such marks in pleasures and in pains
endure.
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Such pleasures seek if private be thy
end.
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If it be public, wide let them extend.
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Such pains avoid, whichever be thy view:
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If pains must come, let them extend to
few.
Should Uncle Jeremy take Johnny Stuart to
the circus or stay home and read a book?
Utilitarianism is a nutshell
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"Actions are right in proportion as they
tend to promote happiness [i.e., pleasure], wrong as they tend to produce the
reverse of happiness [i.e., pain].
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"All things desirable. . . are desirable
either for the pleasure inherent in themselves, or as means to the promotion of
pleasure and the prevention of pain."
Misunderstanding hedonism
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Is utilitarianism “swinish.”
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"Their god is in their belly" (Phillip.
3:19). See “Paul and Epicurus” on website.
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Mill agrees with Epicurus: "Human beings
have faculties more elevated than animal appetites. . . ."
Mill’s wager
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A quick proof of qualitative
utilitarianism: Would you rather be a pig satisfied or a human dissatisfied?
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Some high quality pleasures
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A critique
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Is Mill doing what Epicurus did?
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He admits that he is using
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If so, then he is a
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Quantitative hedonism wins but also
loses?
Mill’s eclecticism
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Some Stoics and Christian "elements" need
to be included in order to "reform" the theory.
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Does not this make utilitarian theory
incoherent?
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The Epicureans would
Pleasure and intrinsic value
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Mill implies that higher pleasures
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Previous utilitarians saw the superiority
of intellectual pleasures
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Does not utility require this?
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All pleasure, higher or lower,
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Quantitative hedonism wins again?
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Rule vs. Act Utilitarianism
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Do we have to do the hedonic calculus for
every single act
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Mill: “competent judges” have already
done the basic calculations
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Since the basic rules are already laid
down,
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Principle of utility restated
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Mill's nonegoism: "Not the agent's own
greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness altogether.” (p. 179)
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“The ultimate end, with reference to and
for the sake of which all other things are desirable (whether we are considering
our own good or that of other people) is an existence exempt as far as possible
from pain, and as rich as possible in enjoyments, both in quantity and quality.”
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”Extent" means all "sentient creation.”
What kind of happiness?
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Mill does not mean a "life of rapture.”
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Balance of tranquility and excitement.
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Intellectual cultivation is
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Mill chooses Bentham’s criteria of
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Christian
ethics and utility
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"In the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth,
we read the complete spirit of the ethics of utility. To do as one would be
done by, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, constitute the ideal perfection
of utilitarian morality.”
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Was Jesus a utilitarian? Was he a
hedonist?
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Mill and Scriven on agapeism
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Rational vs. theological agapeism.
Social or Welfare Utilitarianism
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“Laws and social arrangements should
place happiness, or. . . the interest of the individual as nearly as possible in
harmony with the interest of the whole. . . .”
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Libertarianism: we must pursue our own
self-interest and
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Total free market vs. “mixed economy” for
social utilitarianism.
Mill: Liberty or Utility?
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Highest value is personal liberty
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Highest value is pleasure.
Mill: Liberty or Utility?
Liberty and Utility
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Mill in On Liberty: “Maximizing
liberty always maximizes utility.”
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Anabaptist martyrs in Europe.
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The Nazis marching in Skokie, Illinois.
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Long term utility of liberty will
Classical Conservatism
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Plato, Aristotle, the Roman Stoics.
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Medieval Christianity and
pre-revolutionary Europe
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Universal moral law and.
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Stoic view of.
Classical liberalism
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Kant, Locke, American Founding Fathers.
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Universal moral
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No divine right of kings.
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Ethical objectivism in most of these
figures.
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But also an incipient
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We are all liberals!
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Liberalis:.
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Motto of the French Revolution
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Liberi
vs. servi is dissolved.
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Today’s libertarians take
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Today’s liberals emphasize
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Today’s conservatives focus
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Libertarianism
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J.S. Mill of On
Liberty
and American Libertarian Party. “Night Watchman State.”
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No universal moral laws,
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No laws except those related to
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Legalization of
Social utilitarianism
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Jeremy Bentham, James Mill, J. S. Mill's
other works.
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“Welfare liberalism"
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No universal moral laws,
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“Greatest good for the greatest number.”
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Liberty may be sacrificed.
Bentham: liberty & rights
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In Principles of Morals and
Legislation liberty.
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"Bentham himself had utter contempt for
the idea of liberty" (Himmelfarb)
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"Deprivation of freedom does not appears
on his list of pains" (Warnock)
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There are no natural rights.
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Rights come at the end of.
A burning house
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A house in burning and three children are
inside.
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The following people are present: the
fire chief, a utilitarian, a Kantian, and unknown person.
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After the first three decide that they
have no moral obligation to act, the fourth person runs in and saves the
children.
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A follower of the DDE comes on the scene
and declares what she would have done.