Professional Ethics October 2001

Two Basic Approaches:

Ethical Theories
Teleological
Utilitarianism

Deontological
Kantian Approaches

Consequentialism Basic Insights of Utilitarianism

The greatest good for the greatest number
an act is right only if it tends to result in the
greatest net good
all acts are potentially permissible; depends
on consequences
all persons count equally
difficult to determine which consequences,
what probability, what weight?
May sacrifice individuals for greater good
Utilitarianism is major consequentialist theory
The purpose of morality is to make
the world a better place.
Morality is about producing good
consequences, not having good
intentions
We should do whatever will bring the
most benefit (i.e., intrinsic value) to
all of humanity.
Professional Ethics
The Purpose of Morality
The utilitarian has a very simple
answer to the question of why morality
exists at all:
The purpose of morality is to guide
peoples actions in such a way as to
produce a better world.
Consequently, the emphasis in
utilitarianism is on consequences, not
intentions.
Benthams Formulation of
Utilitarianism
Man is under two great masters, pain
and pleasure.
The great good that we should seek is
happiness. (a hedonistic perspective)
Those actions whose results increase
happiness or diminish pain are good.
They have utility.
October 2001
In determining the best outcome, we
can ask the question, whose outcome?
Utilitarians argue that it is the
consequences of the greatest number
of individuals, or the majority, in a
given society that deserve
consideration in moral deliberation.
In determining the quantity of
happiness that might be produced by
an action, we evaluate the possible
consequences by applying several
values:
Intensity, duration, certainty or
uncertainty, propinquity or
remoteness, fecundity, and purity.
Professional Ethics October 2001

Act and Rule Utilitarianism

John Stuart Mill distinguished between Act utilitarianism
quantity and quality of pleasure.
Looks at the consequences of each
Pleasure from classical music is higher in individual act and calculate utility each
quality than pleasure from beer, and is time the act is performed.
morally better.
Rule utilitarianism
As between his own happiness and that of
others, utilitarianism requires him to be as Looks at the consequences of having
strictly impartial as a disinterested and everyone follow a particular rule and
benevolent spectator. calculates the overall utility of accepting
or rejecting the rule.

A Practical Problem with

The Continuing Dispute
Rule utilitarians claim:
In particular cases, act utilitarianism can justify disobeying
important moral rules and violating individual rights.
Act utilitarianism also takes too much time to calculate in each
and every case.
Act utilitarians respond:
Following a rule in a particular case when the overall utility
demands that we violate the rule is just rule-worship. If the
consequences demand it, we should violate the rule.
Furthermore, act utilitarians can follow rules-of-thumb
(accumulated wisdom based on consequences in the past) most
of the time and engage in individual calculation only when there
is some pressing reason for doing so.
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism classifies actions according to
their actual consequences.
Since we are unable to foresee with absolute
certainty what the consequences of an
action are, we merely guess at what the best
action is for us.
Sometimes, we will make mistakes about
which actions have the best consequences.
It is unfair to hold us morally responsible for
making a mistake based upon a lack of
information which is caused by no fault of
our own.
Professional Ethics
Intentions
Utilitarianism is concerned almost
exclusively about consequences, not
intentions.
There is a version of utilitarianism called motive
utilitarianism, developed by Robert Adams, that
attempts to correct this.
Intentions may matter as morally assessing
an agent, even if they dont matter in terms
of guiding action.
Who does the calculating?
Historically, this was an issue for the US in
Iraq. The Americans felt they wanted to do
what was best for Iraq, but that they were
the ones to judge what that was.
Typically, the count differs depending on
who does the counting
In Vietnam, Americans could never understand
how much independence counted for the
Vietnamese.
October 2001
Moral Luck
By concentrating exclusively on consequences,
utilitarianism makes the moral worth of our actions a
matter of luck. We must await the final
consequences before we find out if our action was
good or bad.
This seems to make the moral life a matter of
chance, which runs counter to our basic moral
intuitions.
We can imagine actions with good intentions that have
unforeseeable and unintended bad consequences
We can also imagine actions with bad intentions that have
unforeseeable and unintended good conseqeunces.
Concluding Assessment
Utilitarianism is most appropriate for
policy decisions, as long as a strong
notion of fundamental human rights
guarantees that it will not violate
rights of small minorities.
Professional Ethics October 2001

Deontological perspective

Moral Obligation has nothing to do with the

Good will
consequences.
Categorical Imperative
Moral law is binding on all rational beings.
A man is forced to borrow money but knows Universal Acceptability
very well that he will not be able to repay it. Respect for persons
Nothing will be loaned to him unless he firmly
Autonomy
promises to repay by certain time. He desires
to make a promise but he has enough
conscious to ask himself whether it is not
improper and opposed to duty to relieve his
distress in such a way.