COMM101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Egotism
I. Consequentialist theories:
1. Egoism:
- Which is the view that equates morality with self-interest. This contains an act is morally right if and only if it best
promotes an agent's long-term interest.
- Egoists use their best long-run advantage as the standard for measuring an action's rightness. If an action
produces
or will probably produce for the agent a greater ratio of good to evil in the long run than any other alternatives, then
that action is right to perform.
- Distinguish between 2 kinds of egoism:
+ Personal egoism: should pursue their own best long-term interests, but do not say what others should do.
+ Impersonal egoism: claim that everyone should follow his/her own best long-term interest
2. Utilitarianism try to include our point of view if agree or disagree
- Is the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for
everyone affected by our actions.
- Thus, the greatest happiness of all constitutes the standard that determines whether an action is right or wrong.
- Details of the theory was developed by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1973). They used
the utilitarian standard to evaluate and criticize the social and political institutions of their day.
- Correspondingly, an action augments the happiness of a community only insofar as it increases the total amount of
individual happiness. Bentham argued for the utilitarianism principle that actions are right if they promote the
greatest human welfare, wrong if they do not.
- Bentham offered a 'hedonic calculus' for six criteria for measuring pleasure and pain:
a. When deciding which action will produce the greatest happiness, we must consider unhappiness or pain
as well
- Consider the unit/number of people get from happiness and unhappiness
b. Actions affect people to different degree
- The level of discomfort a person may get, compare with the comfort others receive.
c. Utilitarians evaluate actions according to their consequences, and actions produce different result in
different circumstances
- For example, breaking a promise usually produces unhappiness, however, in some circumstances it can
produce happiness. In those circumstances, utilitarianism requires us to break the promise.
d. Utilitarians wish to maximize happiness both immediately and long-run.
- All the indirect ramifications (sự phân chia) of an act have to be taken into account.
e. Utilitarians acknowledge that we often do not know with certainty what the future consequences of our
actions will be
- Accordingly, we must act so that the expected or likely happiness is as great as possible.
(ex: take somebody's money to buy lottery ticket)
f. When choosing among possible actions, utilitarianism does not require us to disregard our own pleasure
- Rather, our own pleasure and pain are included into the calculus equally with the pleasures and pains of
others.
- For organizations, utilitarianism provides:
a. A clear and straightforward basis for formulating and testing policies
- By utilitarian standards, an organizational policy, decision or action is good if it promotes the general welfare
more than any other alternatives.
- A policy is considered wrong if it does not promote total utility as well as some alternative would.
b. An objective and attractive way of resolving conflicts of self-interest
- Minimizes and may actually eliminate such disputes.
c. A flexible, result-oriented approach to moral decision-making
- Encourage organizations to focus on the results of their actions and policies, and it allows them to tailor their
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Document Summary
Which is the view that equates morality with self-interest. This contains an act is morally right if and only if it best promotes an agent"s long-term interest. Egoists use their best long-run advantage as the standard for measuring an action"s rightness. If an action produces or will probably produce for the agent a greater ratio of good to evil in the long run than any other alternatives, then that action is right to perform. + personal egoism: should pursue their own best long-term interests, but do not say what others should do. + impersonal egoism: claim that everyone should follow his/her own best long-term interest. Utilitarianism try to include our point of view if agree or disagree. Is the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our actions. Thus, the greatest happiness of all constitutes the standard that determines whether an action is right or wrong.
