CAS PH 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Act Utilitarianism, Chocolate Cake
31 Jan 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Theory of right action: right actions produce happiness. Greatest good for the greatest number , aka greatest happiness for all, not just yourself. Happiness: pleasure and the absence of pain. Ex: learning something new and being rewarded for it with an a. Animals all have lower pleasures, humans have higher. Some argue that pigs get pleasure from rolling in mud, but that doesn"t equate to morality. Mill says we have animal appetites (aka lower pleasures), but higher pleasures allow a distinction to be made. Argues that utilitarianism isn"t about getting as much physical pleasure possible; it is about giving as much pleasure as possible to the general public. The quality of pleasure is more important than quantity. Ex: 5 minutes with friends is better than 10 minutes of cake. Argues that a dissatisfied humans wouldn"t trade places with a pig, even if that pig was guaranteed to have maximum lower pleasures throughout its lifetime.
