PHILO-120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Consequentialism, Supererogation
15 Jun 2020
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Hedonism- what is good produces pleasure, what is bad produces pain. Do things that causes happiness and avoid things that cause unhappiness. Consequentialism-morality of an action is to be judged by its consequences. Jeremy bentham-founder of utilitarianism-end justifies the means. If we"re thinking about utilitarianism greatest good for greatest number . One unit of good is counted as one hedon. If there is more pleasure than pain, then the ethics is good vice versa. John stuart mill, bentham"s student, said utilitarianism makes sense but he doesn"t want situations like the lottery. Greatest good for the greatest number but doesn"t want to cause pain. Thought bentham was too simple in terms of measuring pain and pleasure. Not all pain and pleasure are valued the same, consider the quality and duration. In general, if people did this thing, would it cause more happiness or less. Act utilitarianism (bentham) but rule utility (mill)
