Utilitarianism is an ethical and political philosophy that states, in the words quoted above from its founder Jeremy Bentham (1789), actions or laws are good if they promote "the greatest happiness of the greatest number", or in other words... To learn more about this philosophy, watch these two short BBC videos:
The Trolley Problem Kant vs. Utilitarianism Then these two 8-bit philosophy videos: John Stuart Mill Peter Singer Take basic notes. Finally, in a short post, a.) define Utilitarianism in your own words using an example, and b.) take a position on Peter Singer's Utilitarian argument about animal rights in the last video. Tip - the image below provides a visual summary of the key utilitarian ideas in case you need a refresher after the videos.
29 Comments
Szwede
3/1/2016 09:26:35 am
Utilitarianism defines morality based on the eventual outcome and whether it results in more overall pleasure or pain. It seems like a very "the ends justify the means" approach to morality. An example of utilitarianism is as follows: If a student happened to be in ISS, the moral thing to do would be to watch videos, socialize, and read as much as possible to make the experience more pleasurable, rather than fulfill the duties that were imposed on me- I mean them by the administration, assuming the latter results in fewer total positive outcomes.
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Abby Westgate
3/5/2016 05:40:47 pm
Wow I just wanted to say this is a great response because it's a great way to subtly burn administration for giving you that ISS. Our whole philosophy class has a lot of respect for you James, we all think it's kind of ridiculous that you're in ISS! You're right; if RBR was operating from a Utilitarian perspective, they would realize that letting you out of ISS would result in the greatest amount of people being content because then our philosophy class would be complete again!
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Shea Cody
3/1/2016 02:18:41 pm
Utilitarianism is the idea that when making a decision the best choice is the one that has the best outcome, meaning this choice satisfies the largest number of people. Even if in reality this may not be the best option. An example that I thought of during the video about utilitarianism is the idea behind torture methods the American government has used on suspected terrorists after 9/11. The thought process was that if harming or even killing this one person could save hundreds or even thousands of Americans was justified because it would have a good outcome.
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Emilie Weiner
3/1/2016 03:23:01 pm
Utilitarianism is the philosophy of pleasure and pain. It states that morality should stem from what makes the most people happy and induces the most pleasure. It also denotes pleasure as the only intrinsically good thing, and pain as the only intrinsically bad thing. It is our nature to pursue pleasure. For example, it would be opposite of utilitarian for a teacher to punish the whole class for one or two student's wrongdoing, as they often do, because it would be taking away the pleasure of the entire class.
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Skye Post
3/1/2016 04:16:22 pm
Utilitarianism is the philosophy that good produces the most amount of pleasure, and bad produces the most amount of pain. Where it gets difficult is trying to measure the amount of happiness/hurt amongst people, because it might be subjective. When you go to the hospital and they say "How bad does it hurt?" you have to choose a number. I might say six, whereas someone else might say eight. But are they really feeling more pain than I am? What if we had the same pain inflicted on us, but it hurt one of us more?
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Gabriela Recalde
3/1/2016 05:49:24 pm
If you've ever heard anybody shout, "FOR THE GREATER GOOD", while they're playing Halo, you already have a basic sense of what utilitarianism is. I disagree with Singer's idea of giving animals rights, but I do see what he's saying about basing treatment off of the capacity to suffer. I definitely don't 100% agree because I obviously value a human life over an animal life. This is partially due to the fact that I am a human and partially because I value(rate) our conscientiousness over theirs.
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Utilitarianism is to do something for the greater good. And I really wouldn't give animals rights, There is a so difference that I would say that separates us and them. I really can't think of how to describe it so I guess I'll just say that they are not as civilized as us or something.
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Utilitarianism Is basically defined as the philosophy of doing what is needed to bring about the most happiness for the most people or just yourself, whatever possible. It is overall happiness for everyone, whether there be consequences or not. there is a focus on consequences because it is what will allow for the Utilitarianism view to come into play
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Zoe Kralyevich
3/1/2016 07:02:07 pm
Utilitarianism is the philosophy based on pleasure and/or pain to determine an outcome. As humans, our decisions should be made solely for the purpose of having the greatest amount of pleasure possible. Who would choose to have a bad experience over a good one anyway? However, when you take the outcome of yourself or others into consideration, that's when it gets tricky. I just watched Interstellar so of course I have to use an example from that because now I can't stop thinking about space. In the movie, the main character has to choose whether or not to jeopardize himself and his family so that the human race will be able to survive on another planet, or risking the extinction of humans so that he would be able to see his family again. The decision that would give him the most pleasure would be to go back and see his family again, especially because he won't have to see the extinction of humans since he would die before then. However, he would save an entire species if he didn't go back to see his family. The moral decision would be to stick with the mission and never see his family, however the utilitarian decision would be to go back to Earth.
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Olivia Nooney
3/2/2016 11:16:23 am
I define utilitarianism as doing whatever you can do get a good outcome, no matter the consequences. In the trolley problem, utilitarianists would do anything to save the most people.
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Kelly Gagliano
3/2/2016 11:18:54 am
Utilitarianism is a philosophy based on the fact that doing good things would give pleasure and doing bad things would give pain. Personally, I think that animals should have rights. Just because we can't understand them and their thought processes doesn't mean they don't think or speak at all. It is well known that animals do communicate. Whales make vibrations and flop around to talk to each other, for example. That's like saying someone from a different country shouldn't have rights because they don't speak English. Stupid right? However, I do think that it is ok to eat animals. Humans naturally hunt and eat animals so I think eating them is a-ok. But it is definitely not ok to abuse them and use them as test subjects. They have no idea what's happening and are being tortured and suffering. In that circumsatance, animals definitely should have rights.
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Logan Applegate
3/2/2016 11:26:52 am
Utilitarianism is the philosophy of doing the action that produces the most satisfaction and helps out the majority. There are many different factors in a solution that you may not be aware of. This makes it hard for the person to judge what is the best option.
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Steven Ansell
3/2/2016 01:58:05 pm
In philosophy, utilitarianism is a practice that involves undergoing anything in order to achieve the final goal of happiness. In short, this concept relies heavily on the statement "the ends justify the means." As far as the rights of animals, I find myself leaning closer to Singer rather than Kant, two philosophers with extremely opposite outlooks on animal rights. Kant (who believed that animals should have little to no rights because they are unable to understand morality and follow a strict set of rules) comes off as very pedantic to me in regards to this idea. Singer's beliefs are far more practical, although I wouldn't go so far as to say that animals deserve the same rights as humans, simply because we are far more complex beings. Either way, animals have the ability to feel which definitely outweighs morality, to me.
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Nicole Ortiz
3/2/2016 07:20:27 pm
Utilitarianism is about the destination, not the journey. As for Singer and animal rights: I don't think animals should have the same rights as humans. 'Animals' is too broad of a term. Wild animals live in a completely different world from humans. Domesticated (including in captivity) animals are forced to live in the human world. Either type should have the right to be protected by their own world. By this, animals that do not live in the wild should not be harmed by humans. On the other side, wild animals have the right to view humans as just another piece of the food chain, and for humans to act accordingly (not hunt for sport).
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Ja2min Flores
3/2/2016 07:34:07 pm
Utilitarianism is a philosophy stating that so called good things are done to give pleasure where as "bad" things/behaviors achieve pain.
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Hannah Wallis
3/3/2016 07:38:53 am
Utilitarianism is a philosophy where the end result is creating happiness for the one person. The outcome is supposed to please/ bring joy to the one creating the goal and attempting to achieve it.
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Haley Watson
3/3/2016 11:09:22 am
Utilitarianism is the philosophy of what brings you the utmost happiness, regardless of society’s say or moral code. This may appear as a bit over-exaggerated, but an example of utilitarianism is kleptomania. The person who has kleptomania feels pleasure from stealing time after time. However, our society definitely frowns down upon stealing, and even has laws to punish those who do so.
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Kristen Wimmer
3/3/2016 05:23:15 pm
Utilitarianism is about making choices by weighing outcomes, and the more favorable outcomes are the ones which produce more happiness. However utilitarianism was invented by mathematicians, and the philosophy itself can have lack of emphasis on the individual, as it is more concerned with how MUCH happiness is produced, or how many lives are saved. Moreover the determination of a good or bad outcome tends to be objective in utilitarianism, seeing that it is mathematically based.
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kristen wimmer
3/3/2016 05:27:47 pm
just wanted to add this bc i left it out lol- i don't believe animals need for many of the rights humans have access to, simply because they don't apply to animals (ex. the right to bear arms, the right to a fair trial). But i don't think that's the take away. I believe that animals deserve rights which are fitted to them, which means basic protection and security, basically ensuring they won't be shoved in a cage their entire live or fattened so much to the point that they can't walk....
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Aidan Murphy
3/4/2016 10:00:22 am
Utilitarianism is the concept of weather the ends justify the means. In economic terms Utils are the units of pleasure or satisfaction one receives from something. I are with these beilefs but must not encourage it amongst everybody as it can lead to selfishness in society and I don't think that everyone can handle that.
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Julia Nijnens
3/4/2016 10:38:16 am
1. Utilitarianism is the philosophy which focuses on pleasure and pain. It is a theory which involves the best moral action which results in the greatest rating of well-being. It relates to ethics and is a very influential moral theory.
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Abby Westgate
3/5/2016 05:55:54 pm
I believe Utilitarianism is a philosophy used to gauge whether actions are moral or not. According to Utilitarianism, an action is moral if the greatest number of people are happy as a result. In other words, the ends justify the means. For example, if I wanted to plant some seeds but had to pull out some weeds to do so, utilitarians would agree that I should do it because there would be more flowers than weeds and logically that would make the majority happy.
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Dannielle Wolf
3/5/2016 06:36:26 pm
Utilitarianism is the pursuit of the most happiness. Its basis is that whatever brings about the most pleasure and the least pain for everyone involved is the morally correct thing to do. For example, changing a school's entire schedule and stressing students out for a couple weeks for one test really doesn't bring about the most happiness, so utilitarians would say it is morally wrong. Especially if that test won't affect the students or teachers for at least three years (as determined by bill A4190).
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Jessica Auriemma
3/6/2016 02:22:03 pm
Utilitarianism is performing an action that will provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people. Utilitarianism seeks to limit suffering or if people must suffer, to have the smallest amount of people possible suffer. For example, if teacher gives a class of 20 the option to play a game or watch a movie and 17 people want the movie but only 3 want a game, the utilitarian thing to do would be to watch the movie. Watching a movie will bring pleasure to 17 people while a game would only benefit 3 people.
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Tyler Duane
3/6/2016 06:09:34 pm
Utilitarianism is the action of choosing which choice will give the person the most amount of happiness in the end. Utilitarians look at the end of an outcome, not the moral part of it. When put into a situation where people will end up dying Utilitarianism says one should choose the the way with the least amount of deaths.
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Ricky Wild
3/8/2016 07:58:10 am
Utilitarianism has two main concepts in my opinion. The first is obtaining a balance of "good" in society. Or, in other words, helping a large amount of people, before helping yourself. The second is the definition of good. Which one could define as the balance of pleasure over pain. Though a morbid example, one could use torture as an example of utilitarianism. Just imagine a war, an enemy is captured, you need to win the war to save your country and innocent people, the captured person doesn't want to say anything, you torture him, he tells you everything, you win the war and save your people. Though torture could be immoral and frowned upon, the pain of this one person, was able to release the pleasure of many people being saved.
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Jane Breslin
3/9/2016 04:07:44 pm
Utilitarianism is basically to do what is best for the majority and if it promotes happiness. There is a certain farsightedness that utilitarianism carries with it as it looks to the end result first. For example, in "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," one child is neglected and abused as the sacrificial one to undertake all pain and suffering of the citizens of Omelas. One person's suffering can create an entire city of happiness.
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Adel Soliman
3/10/2016 07:17:15 pm
Utilitarianism is the basic concept that puts the community in front of the individual ensuring that the communities well being and happiness overcomes that of any individuals. And as for the idea of animals sharing that of human rights, I disagree. To an extent, giving rights serves no purpose. Freedom of speech... a dog barks. The end. The right to bare arms... Unless youre a monkey you dont have thumbs to hold one. Ownership over a property, animals mark their own territory their way. By giving animals human rights, we are merely ruining their natural way of life and forcing our way of what we see as superior onto them. They should be able to follow whatever instinctual path that nature has given them without humans trying to change it.
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12/5/2016 10:02:15 am
This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free.
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