Philosphy
deefer
HappinessSpring20231.2_2_.pptxHAPPINESS
Review—Deontological Ethics and the Categorical Imperative
HAPPINESS
The Ethics of Happiness challenges us to achieve the greatest balance of happiness (well-being, satisfaction, pleasure) over suffering. Included in the great calculation is the happiness of others as well as oneself, and we find ourselves looking to achieve the greatest balance of happiness over suffering in society as a whole. Ethical thinking in this family of values is quantitative and economic, concerned with trade-offs and the distribution of goods, maximizing tangible social benefits.
Anthony Weston—A 21st Century Ethical Toolbox, p. 174.
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Utilitarianism& Calculus of Happiness
Jeremey Bentham & J.S. Mill
Jeremey Bentham (1748-1832)
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
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The Bentham’s Quantitative Felicific Calculus
Intensity: How strong is the pleasure?
Duration: How long will the pleasure last?
Certainty or uncertainty: How likely or unlikely is it that the pleasure will occur?
Propinquity or remoteness: How soon will the pleasure occur?
Fecundity: The probability that the action will be followed by sensations of the same kind.
Purity: The probability that it will not be followed by sensations of the opposite kind.
Extent: How many people will be affected
Mill’s Qualitative Calculus
If I am asked what I mean by difference of quality in pleasures, or what makes one pleasure more valuable than another, merely as a pleasure, except its being greater in amount, there is but one possible answer. Of two pleasures, if there be one to which all or almost all who have experience of both give a decided preference, irrespective of any feeling of moral obligation to prefer it, that is the more desirable pleasure.
J.S. Mill—On Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism
