Utilitarianism help

ARSHKFW

11

Is the principle of utility devised by Bentham the same as the greatest happiness principle?

Reply 1

nothing:)

4

Original post by ARSHKFW

Is the principle of utility devised by Bentham the same as the greatest happiness principle?

yeah they are the same thing .utility means usefulness and an act can be right or wrong depending on how usefull it is ,so if it is usefull it will produce the most/greatest amount of happiness. hope that helps :smile:

Reply 2

ARSHKFW

OP

11

Original post by nothing:)

yeah they are the same thing .utility means usefulness and an act can be right or wrong depending on how usefull it is ,so if it is usefull it will produce the most/greatest amount of happiness. hope that helps :smile:

cheers

Reply 3

nothing:)

4

Original post by ARSHKFW

cheers

no problem :biggrin:

Reply 4

ARSHKFW

OP

11

Original post by nothing:)

no problem :biggrin:

Are you doing AQA? and if so do you know much about exam technique?

Reply 5

nothing:)

4

Original post by ARSHKFW

Are you doing AQA? and if so do you know much about exam technique?

no unfortunately not i do wjec.but for exam techniques just know your basics and try to apply that to the question.have some examples which back up your points.exaplain what main words mean e.g utility means usefulness this basically tells the examiner that you know what your writing.Do you do ethics and Islam by any chance?

Reply 6

yusraali

3

Original post by ARSHKFW

Is the principle of utility devised by Bentham the same as the greatest happiness principle?

Yeah, it's along those lines. The principle of utility is individual acts that will produce the greatest happiness- as Bentham said "greatest happiness for the greatest number."

Reply 7

ARSHKFW

OP

11

Original post by nothing:)

no unfortunately not i do wjec.but for exam techniques just know your basics and try to apply that to the question.have some examples which back up your points.exaplain what main words mean e.g utility means usefulness this basically tells the examiner that you know what your writing.Do you do ethics and Islam by any chance?

Thanks again nah ethics and philosophy mate

Reply 8

nothing:)

4

Original post by ARSHKFW

Thanks again nah ethics and philosophy mate

ughh i did philosophy at the start but hated it :eek:

good luck tho. if you neeed help on ethics always ask :smile:

Reply 9

username1735189

1

Original post by nothing:)

no unfortunately not i do wjec.but for exam techniques just know your basics and try to apply that to the question.have some examples which back up your points.exaplain what main words mean e.g utility means usefulness this basically tells the examiner that you know what your writing.Do you do ethics and Islam by any chance?

I do Ethics and Islam if it's of any use to you?

Reply 10

nothing:)

4

Original post by Adlucinor

I do Ethics and Islam if it's of any use to you?

omg thank god. I literally don't know the definition of situation ethics like i need a simple straight forward answer but cant seem to get it. help...

Reply 11

username1735189

1

Original post by nothing:)

omg thank god. I literally don't know the definition of situation ethics like i need a simple straight forward answer but cant seem to get it. help...

Situation Ethics is an area I haven't spent as much time upon as other ethical ways of thinking, but I can give it my best shot to explain it to you as I understand and see how that is for you? It's quite hard to give a simplistic definition, so I'll try explain it simply and see if that does the trick.

Situation ethics is different to say Utilitarianism or more Religious forms of ethical decision making, because its 'situational' and relativist, rather than absolutist. Rather than there be moral rules by which we should make decisions, people who believe in Situation ethics see it best to approach situations with a set of moral guidelines, but flexible ones, not absolute ones.

This means that when a person comes to an ethical issue and chooses to use situation ethics, they will have a set of moral guidelines, but they will not be afraid to abandon those guidelines if it means the greater good will be produced.

So, we shouldn't make decisions based on a pre-determined set of rules, instead we should approach each situation independently and decide the best course of action for that situation through means which are decided according to the situation.

There is also the distinct idea of love within situation ethics, and that plays an integral part, however, since I have only briefly studied Situation Ethics, due to my teachers preference to address other ethical ways of thinking, I can't explain that so well. However, these websites might help! I don't know if you've already used them or not, but here you are:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/situation_1.shtml

P.S. I realise this isn't really a simple definition like you asked for, but I'm happy to answer any more questions if you have some. : )

Reply 12

cogitoergo

6

Hi there,

You could say...

Situation ethics is subjective, individualistic and is prepared to accept any action at all if it fits the required criteria. Therefore it is a relativist, consequentialist theory that does not prescribe fixed rules; it considers the outcome of actions and denies absolutes. As a theory SE states you must act, no matter what the situation, out of love and is based on Jesus' message of love (agape).

Reply 13

nothing:)

4

Original post by cogitoergo

Hi there,

You could say...

Situation ethics is subjective, individualistic and is prepared to accept any action at all if it fits the required criteria. Therefore it is a relativist, consequentialist theory that does not prescribe fixed rules; it considers the outcome of actions and denies absolutes. As a theory SE states you must act, no matter what the situation, out of love and is based on Jesus' message of love (agape).

ohhhh thanks that makes sense now :smile:

Reply 14

nothing:)

4

Original post by Adlucinor

Situation Ethics is an area I haven't spent as much time upon as other ethical ways of thinking, but I can give it my best shot to explain it to you as I understand and see how that is for you? It's quite hard to give a simplistic definition, so I'll try explain it simply and see if that does the trick.

Situation ethics is different to say Utilitarianism or more Religious forms of ethical decision making, because its 'situational' and relativist, rather than absolutist. Rather than there be moral rules by which we should make decisions, people who believe in Situation ethics see it best to approach situations with a set of moral guidelines, but flexible ones, not absolute ones.

This means that when a person comes to an ethical issue and chooses to use situation ethics, they will have a set of moral guidelines, but they will not be afraid to abandon those guidelines if it means the greater good will be produced.

So, we shouldn't make decisions based on a pre-determined set of rules, instead we should approach each situation independently and decide the best course of action for that situation through means which are decided according to the situation.

There is also the distinct idea of love within situation ethics, and that plays an integral part, however, since I have only briefly studied Situation Ethics, due to my teachers preference to address other ethical ways of thinking, I can't explain that so well. However, these websites might help! I don't know if you've already used them or not, but here you are:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/situation_1.shtml

P.S. I realise this isn't really a simple definition like you asked for, but I'm happy to answer any more questions if you have some. : )

THANK YOUU :smile:

i just got the notification sorry it late but thank youu it helped to simplify the definition of it down.

Reply 15

username1735189

1

Original post by nothing:)

THANK YOUU :smile:

i just got the notification sorry it late but thank youu it helped to simplify the definition of it down.

Oh, thank god! I've been waiting for it to be approved for sooooo long! It's not your fault, don't apologise. I'm just glad it helped in the end and I'm sorry it wasn't able to help sooner. Message me if you need any more advice or help!

Reply 16

nothing:)

4

Original post by Adlucinor

Oh, thank god! I've been waiting for it to be approved for sooooo long! It's not your fault, don't apologise. I'm just glad it helped in the end and I'm sorry it wasn't able to help sooner. Message me if you need any more advice or help!

lool THANK YOU so much, it wasn't your fault either and i will do. :smile:

Reply 17

ARSHKFW

OP

11

Does anybody know who created the terms Act and Rule Utilitarianism, everywhere says they were associated with Bentham and Mill but i was unsure if they created the terms yet didnt strictly follow them or if somebody else created the terms to describe their interpretation of Utilitarianism

Reply 18

username1735189

1

Original post by ARSHKFW

Does anybody know who created the terms Act and Rule Utilitarianism, everywhere says they were associated with Bentham and Mill but i was unsure if they created the terms yet didnt strictly follow them or if somebody else created the terms to describe their interpretation of Utilitarianism

I don't know for sure, but I would assume they are terms that were coined post Bentham and Mill. I only say so because Mill is only associated with Rule Utilitarianism by some ethical thinkers and commentators, and not all, which would lead me to believe that it wasn't a term he devised himself and I'd assume the same goes for Bentham. Furthermore, I believe that in their works, Bentham and Mill only tended to use the term 'Utilitarianism.' Mill even published a book by that name, rather than something such as 'Rule Utilitarianism.'

Consequently, I think it likely that for them, there wasn't such a differentiation between Act and Rule, rather Utilitarianism was an all-encompassing term for the way of thinking. It's likely useful to consider that Mill didn't see himself as actually changing or developing a new form of Utilitarianism, rather simply amending what he thought were issues of Bentham's theory and adding his own ideas about higher and lower pleasures.

Anyway, those are my thoughts, I welcome anyone that knows otherwise as this is merely my educated assumptions, haha.

Reply 19

sophierwilson

In utilitarianism what issue with the Hedonic Calculus is Roger Crisp trying to raise with his Haydn and the Oyster analogy? Like, I get he's saying that technically the oysters life is worth more because theres a larger quantity of pleasure but I'm not sure how to make this into a point in an essay?

Utilitarianism help

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you