Ethics: Foundations of Moral Values

Unit 3 – UTILITARIANISM

Utilitarianism, is an ethical theory that argues for the goodness of pleasure and
the determination of right behavior based on the usefulness of the action’s
consequences. This means that pleasure is good and that the goodness of an
action is determined by its usefulness. Putting these ideas together,
utilitarianism claims that one’s actions and behavior are good in as much as
they are directed toward the experience of the greatest pleasure over pain for
the greatest number of persons. Its root word is “utility,” which refers to the
usefulness of the consequences of the one’s action and behavior.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit, you will be able to:

• Discuss the basic principles of utilitarianism ethics;

• Distinguish between two utilitarianism models: the quantitative model of Jeremy
Bentham and the qualitative model of John
Stuart Mill; and
• Apply utilitarianism in understanding and evaluating local and international
scenarios

Pre-test

Exercise 1 : Multiple Choice Test

Directions : Answer the following questions and encircle the letter of the
correct answer.

1. Who is the major proponent of the theory of utilitarianism?

A. Jeremy Bentham C. Immanuel Kant

B. Karl Marx D. John Rawls

2. A theory of Ethics by which actions are judged to be right or wrong solely according to
their casual consequences.
 Ethics: Foundations of Moral Values

A. Moral C. Value
B. Utilitarianism D. Culturalism

3. Which of the following does Mill present as a potential criticism of utilitarianism?

A. it cannot account for the differences between higher and lower pleasures
B. virtue is more important than happiness
C. it is a godless theory
D. All of the above

4. Bentham argues that actions are governed by two “sovereign masters” which are:

A. good and bad C. light and dark

B. pleasure and pain D. happiness and
unhappiness

5. This form of pleasure is higher or a superior form, more desirable and more valuable as
compared to those mere sensation’

A. physical C. mental
B. financial D. emotional

6. Which of the following are the principles for utilitarian rules of morality:

A. If the end of an act promotes unhappiness, even if it has intended to promote the
greatest happiness, the act can be considered morally wrong.
B. If the end of an act has promoted the greatest amount of happiness of the greatest
number of people, whatever means the act employs is morally justified.
C. If an act unintentionally produces the greatest amount of happiness, the act is still
morally good.
D. All of the above

7. Which of the following does Mill say is a common meaning of the term justice?

A. receiving what one deserves

B. not showing preferences inappropriately
C. not violating agreements
D. All of the above

8. Utilitarianism dictates that actions are morally good

A. when they promote interests and well-being

 Ethics: Foundations of Moral Values

B. when they are performed by a virtuous person

C. when they promote general happiness
D. when they reflect the following of a just principle, regardless of the consequences

Hi, thank you for answering the pre-test. The

answer key is found at the end of this unit.
Meanwhile, read the next section as it contains
information relevant to our topic!

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Content

UTILITARIANISM

Utilitarianism is a theory in Ethics by which actions are judged to be right or wrong

solely according to their casual consequences.

Under the utilitarian theory of morality, an individual should seek only those things that
tend to produce “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”. Moral assessment of acts,
therefore, involves the calculation of casual consequences: actions are right if they promote the
greatest happiness or pleasure to the greatest number, wrong, if they produce unhappiness or
pain.
 Ethics: Foundations of Moral Values

• Utilitarian morality as a rational enterprise includes not solely the pursuit of happiness,
but the prevention and mitigation of unhappiness.
Utilitarianism is consequentialist.
 means that the moral value or actions and decisions is based solely or greatly on the
usefulness of their consequences;

• Usefulness of results that determines whether the action or behavior is good or bad. While
this is the case, not all consequentialist theories are utilitarian. For Bentham and Mill,
utility refers to a way of understanding the results of people’s actions. Specifically, they
are interested on whether these actions contribute or not to the total amount of resulting
happiness in the world.

• The utilitarian value pleasure and happiness;

 this means that the usefulness of actions is based on its promotion of happiness.
Bentham and Mill understand happiness as the experience of pleasure for the
greatest number of persons, even at the expense of some individual’s rights.

- born on Feb. 15, 1748 in London, England. He was teacher of

James Mill, father of John Stuart Mill. Bentham first wrote about
the greatest happiness principle of ethics and was known for a
system of penal management called panopticon. He was an
advocate of economic freedom, women’s rights, and the separation
of church and state, among others. He was also an advocate of
animal rights and the abolition of slavery, death penalty, and
Jeremy corporal punishment for children. Bentham denied individual legal
Bentham rights nor agreed with the natural law. On his death on June 6,
1832,

THE PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY

In the book An introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789), Jeremy
Bentham begins by arguing that our actions are governed by two “sovereign master” –which he
calls pleasure and pain. These “masters” are given to us by nature to help us determine what is
good or bad and what ought to be done and not; they fasten our choices to their throne.

The principle of utility is about our subjection to these sovereign masters: pleasure and
pain. On one hand, the principle refers to the motivation of our actions as guided by our
avoidance of pain and our desire for pleasure. It is like saying that in our everyday actions, we do
what is pleasurable and we do not do what is painful. On the other hand, the principle also refers
to pleasure as good if, and only if, they produce more happiness than unhappiness. This means
that it is not enough to experience pleasure, but to also inquire whether the things we do make us
 Ethics: Foundations of Moral Values

happier. Having identified the tendency for pleasure and the avoidance of pain as the principle of
utility, Bentham equates happiness with pleasure.

Mill supports Bentham’s principle of utility. He reiterates moral good as happiness and,
consequently, happiness as pleasure. Mill clarifies that what makes people happy is intended
pleasure and what makes us unhappy is the privation of pleasure. The things that produce
happiness and pleasure are good.

Clearly, Mill argues that we act and do things because we find them pleasurable and we
avoid doing things because they are painful. If we find our actions pleasurable Mill explains, it
is because they are inherently pleasurable in themselves or they eventually lead to the
promotion of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. Bentham and Mill characterized moral value
as utility and understood is as whatever produced happiness or pleasure and the avoidance of
pain. The next step is to understand the nature of pleasure and pain to identify a criterion for
distinguishing pleasures and to calculate the restaurant pleasure or pain; it is in relation to these
aforementioned themes that a distinction occurs between Bentham and Mill.

- born on May 20, 1806 in Pentoville, London,

United Kingdom. He was the son of James Mill, a
friend and disciple of Jeremy Bentham. He studied
Greek at the age of 3 and Latin at the age of 8. He
wrote a history of Roman Law at age 11, and
suffered a nervous breakdown at the age of 20. His
ethical theory and his defense of utilitarian views
John Stuart
are found in his long essay Utilitarianism (1861). Mill
Mill died in May 8, 1873 in Avignon, France from
THE UTILITARIAN PRECEPT OF PLEASURE-REGARDING(1806-1873)

Two General Forms of Pleasure

- Physical Pleasure
 These are sensual indulgences or bodily gratifications that include among others,
sexual intercourse, eating, drinking, rest, etc. Ill regulated desires make man
pursue pleasure to the injury of health, even if man knows that health is a greater
good.
 This kind of pleasure is considered by the utilitarian as animalistic or beastly and
make up the lower forms or inferior types of pleasure.
 Physical pleasure appeals to people’s lower faculties and persons desiring nothing,
but physical pleasure are considered lowly and less dignified.

- Mental Pleasure
 Refers to intellectual, spiritual and moral pleasures. Mental pleasures feed man’s
noble feelings, imaginations and moral sentiments.
 Ethics: Foundations of Moral Values

 higher or a superior form of pleasure, more desirable and more valuable as

compared to those mere sensation.
 generally more difficult to achieve but make man more dignified. They include,
among others, the enjoyment of free will and intellect, social recognition and
regards feeling of self-worth and respect, feeling of peace and security.

UTILITARIAN RULES OF MORALITY

Keeping in mind the basic precept of Utilitarianism that an act is good if it produces the greatest
amount of happiness of the greatest number of people, we can now deduce specific rules of
morality that will help us determine if an act is ethical or unethical. The following are the
principles:
• If the end of an act promotes unhappiness, even if it has intended to promote the greatest
happiness, the act can be considered morally wrong.
• If the end of an act has promoted the greatest amount of happiness of the greatest number
of people, whatever means the act employs is morally justified.
• If an act unintentionally produces the greatest amount of happiness, the act is still morally
good.

JUSTICE AND MORAL RIGHTS

What is right?

Mill understands justice as a respect for rights directed toward society’s pursuit for the
greatest happiness of the greatest number. For him, rights are a valid claim on society and are
justified by utility. The right to due process, the right to free speech or religion, and others are
justified because they contribute to the general good. This means that society is made happier if
its citizens are able to live in their lives knowing that their interests are protected and that society
(as a whole) defends it.

Utilitarians argue that issue of justice carry a very strong emotional import because the category
of rights is directly associated with the individual’s most vital interests.

Our participation in government and social interactions can be explained by the principle of
utility and be clarified by Mill’s consequentialism. Mill further associates utilitarianism with the
possession of legal and moral rights.

Mill creates a distinction between legal rights and their justification. He points out that when
legal rights are not morally justified in accordance to the greatest happiness principle, then these
rights need neither be observed, nor be respected.
 Ethics: Foundations of Moral Values

Mill seems to be suggesting that it is morally permissible to not follow, even violate an unjust
law. The implication is that those who protest over political policies of a morally objectionable
government act in a morally obligatory way, While it is not preferred Mill thinks that it is
commendable to endure legal punishments for acts of civil disobedience for the sake of
promoting a higher moral good. At an instance of conflict between moral and legal rights, Mill
points out that moral rights take precedence over legal rights.

While it can be justified why others violate legal rights, it is an act of injustice to violate an
individual’s moral rights. However, Mill seems to provide some extenuating circumstances in
which some moral rights can be overridden for the sake of the greater general happiness.

While there is no such thing as a laudable and praiseworthy injustice. Mill appeals to the
utilitarian understanding of justice as an act justified by the greatest happiness principle, there is
no right to violate where utility is not served by the social protection of individual interests.
While he recognizes how utilitarian principles can sometimes obligate us to perform acts that
would regularly be understood as disregarding individual rights, he argues that this is only
possible id it is judged to produce more happiness than unhappiness.

Something to think about…

1. - Bentham and Mill see oral good as pleasure, not merely self-gratification, but
also the greatest happiness principle or the greatest happiness for the greatest
number of people.
2. - Mill provides an adequate discourse on rights despite it being mistakenly
argued to be the weakness of utilitarianism.
 Ethics: Foundations of Moral Values

Learning Activities

Activity 1 : Post it!

Directions : Answer the tasks given below. Write your answers on the post-it
notes.

1. Comment on this statement: “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote
happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.”

2. In your own opinion: Are there areas of our lives where you use utilitarian thinking? Where
in your life are most concerned with doing what is right not just for yourself but for others? Why
have you placed the needs of others before your own on those instances?
 Ethics: Foundations of Moral Values

Activity 2
Directions : Share your thoughts on the following examples of Utilitarianism
criticisms. Write you answer on the space provided

• “Utilitarianism is not concerned with justice”

• “If you take the time to calculate the best course of action, then the opportunity has
probably already passed you by while you were deciding.”

• “The practice of utilitarianism is incredibly demanding”

Hi, thank you for completing the entire task. If you

have encountered problems in any of these tasks,
please message me through our group chat, Google
Classroom, email, or text. Stay safe. Stay home. We
Heal As One.
 Ethics: Foundations of Moral Values

Assessment

Directions : Read each item carefully and write your answer on the space
provided.

1. Distinguish and discuss the differences between Bentham’s quantitative model and Mill’s
qualitative model.

2. Is it justifiable to build a basketball court because there are basketball fans, than to build a
hospital because there are fewer sick people?

ANSWER KEY

Pre-test  Exercise No. 1

 Ethics: Foundations of Moral Values

1. A
2. B
3. D
4. C
5. C
6. D
7. D
8. C