Explain Bentham’s Utilitarianism: (30 Marks)
Explain Bentham’s Utilitarianism: (30 Marks)
A man called Jeremy Bentham had a theory called the ‘Utilitarianism theory’. He was born in London at the time of the great scientific and social change and wrote ‘The Principles of Morals and Legislation’ in 1789. Bentham had the theory that all humans seek pleasure and avoid pain at all costs.
Utilitarianism has been described as an act or a rule rather than a theory. We break this down into three parts:
-Motivation: Bentham was a hedonists (‘Hedone’ is Greek for ‘pleasure’). Bentham suggests that humans are motivated by pleasure and seek to avoid pain in every circumstance. Bentham quoted ‘Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do.’ Basically he is trying to say that humans pursue pleasure and fight to avoid pain, and believed that this was a ‘moral fact’, also that pleasure was the ‘sole good’ and pain was the ‘sole evil’, meaning humans naturally seek and avoid it. For example smoking, people know that it will harm them and damage their health but they smoke for the pleasure, giving up would be very difficult and would therefore cause pain that they’re trying to avoid. There are also very different examples from different peoples viewpoints such as.. * People who are motivated by pleasure:
A person lives their life to go to Heaven. This means that the thought of going to Heaven (pleasure) motivates them to be a good person. * People who are motivated by pain:
A person lives their life to stay away from Hell. This means that the thought of going to Hell (pain) motivates them to be a good person.
-Principle of utility: utility means ‘usefulness’, this is Bentham’s moral rule. Once Bentham had identified pleasure and pain (moral) he continued on to the ‘utility principle’. This is where every action is judged by the rightness and wrongness by its utility
A man called Jeremy Bentham had a theory called the ‘Utilitarianism theory’. He was born in London at the time of the great scientific and social change and wrote ‘The Principles of Morals and Legislation’ in 1789. Bentham had the theory that all humans seek pleasure and avoid pain at all costs.
Utilitarianism has been described as an act or a rule rather than a theory. We break this down into three parts:
-Motivation: Bentham was a hedonists (‘Hedone’ is Greek for ‘pleasure’). Bentham suggests that humans are motivated by pleasure and seek to avoid pain in every circumstance. Bentham quoted ‘Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do.’ Basically he is trying to say that humans pursue pleasure and fight to avoid pain, and believed that this was a ‘moral fact’, also that pleasure was the ‘sole good’ and pain was the ‘sole evil’, meaning humans naturally seek and avoid it. For example smoking, people know that it will harm them and damage their health but they smoke for the pleasure, giving up would be very difficult and would therefore cause pain that they’re trying to avoid. There are also very different examples from different peoples viewpoints such as.. * People who are motivated by pleasure:
A person lives their life to go to Heaven. This means that the thought of going to Heaven (pleasure) motivates them to be a good person. * People who are motivated by pain:
A person lives their life to stay away from Hell. This means that the thought of going to Hell (pain) motivates them to be a good person.
-Principle of utility: utility means ‘usefulness’, this is Bentham’s moral rule. Once Bentham had identified pleasure and pain (moral) he continued on to the ‘utility principle’. This is where every action is judged by the rightness and wrongness by its utility