PP217 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Jeremy Bentham, Consequentialism, Scapegoating
Document Summary
Consequentialism, or utilitarianism: ethical theories, then, are theories of obligation that involve universal claims. The first such theory to consider is called utilitarianism, or consequentialism (in fact, there are other consequentialist theories, but here we will use consequentialism and utilitarianism interchangeably). This is the view of philosophers like j. s. Mill and jeremy bentham: obligation depends on value. The distinction between theories of value and of obligation is useful in understanding this ethical stance. For utilitarians, the right thing to do depends only on the (probable) consequences of the action: obligation depends on value (thomas and waluchow, 24). According to utilitarianism, or consequentialism, one ought to maximize the amount of whatever is good. If it seems odd to you that there might be a difference between saying something is good and saying it is right, then you may be thinking like a utilitarian: the utilitarian theory of obligation. Here is a statement of the utilitarian theory:
