PHILO-120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Ethical Egoism, Jeremy Bentham, Act Utilitarianism

• School: Diablo Valley College
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHILO-120
• Professor: price

Document Summary

The morally right act, for any particular situation, is that act which would produce the greatest overall utility in its consequences burnor & raley. View promoted by jeremy bentham (1748-1832): greatest good for the greatest number. Provides a rational basis to extend moral considerations to animals. Calculation problem: impracticality of predicting all of the consequences of a action. Moral saints problem: every behavior becomes a moral problem but many behaviors seem intuitively to be morally neutral. Justice/human rights objection: act utilitarianism provides little basis to respect human rights. A consequentialist moral theory that defines a morally right rule or practice as one that promotes overall utility burnor and raley. Rule maximizing utility vs act maximizing utility. Principles of rules vs principles of acts. Some versions of hedonism argued that we should pursue that which will result in the greatest amount of pleasure as though quantity of pleasure is the main consideration.