Jeremy Bentham
Hedonistic Utilitarianism
- The Intellectual Background of Utilitarianism -
- The New Science vs. Magic/Religion
- The Rationalist/Empiricist Debate
- Rationalism - the senses are unreliable and therefore not a sufficient foundation for knowledge
- Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
- Baruch Spinoza (1637-1677)
- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz (1646-1716)
- Empiricism - sensation is the only source for knowledge
- John Locke (1632-1704)
- George Berkeley (1685-1753)
- David Hume (1711-1776)
- Human Nature -
- Humans are subjugated by Nature to two sensations:
- Pleasure
- Pain
- 'Utility' - the power to produce a benefit or advantage (i.e., pleasure)
- The Utility Principle - "actions are good insofar as they promote happiness and bad insofar as they oppose happiness."
- Hedonistic Calculation - How DO we determine whether an action is good or bad?
- The Goal (i.e., end, 'telos') of Morality - Maximize Pleasure and Minimize Pain
- The hierarchy of pleasure associated with actions:
- Intensity
- Duration
- Certainty
- Nearness
- Fecundity
- Purity
- Extent
PHI 105 Page | Notes Index