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Against Utilitarianism
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PHIL130 ETHICSAGAINST UTILITARIANISM
Dr Anthi Chrysanthou PhD
Week 9/Teaching Session 17 – March 13, 2025
ac00@aubmed.ac.cy | American University of Beirut
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Against UtilitarianismFyodor Dostoevsky The Brothers Karamazov:
‘Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the
object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and
rest at last, but that it was essential and inevitable to torture to
death only one tiny creature—that baby beating its breast with
its fist, for instance—and to found that edifice on its unavenged
tears, would you consent to be the architect on those conditions?
Tell me, and tell the truth.’
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Against UtilitarianismObjection to Utilitarianism
Premise 1: If utilitarianism were true, it would tell us, correctly, which acts are
right and which are wrong.
Premise 2: Utilitarianism tells us that if torturing an innocent child to death would
bring about better consequences than anything else we could do, then torturing
an innocent child to death would be the right thing to do.
Premise 3: Torturing an innocent child to death is always wrong.
Conclusion: Utilitarianism is false.
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Against UtilitarianismScenario 1
YOU: 100 free plane tickets = 100 Units of happiness.
OTHERS: 100 people get 1 ticket each = 100 Units of happiness.
TOTAL: 200 Units of happiness.
PICK
Scenario 2
YOU: Have to suffer and live in pain and misery
OTHERS: All the people get 500 tickets each
TOTAL: Massive amount of happiness.
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Against Utilitarianism“The ones who walk away from Omelas”, Ursula K LeGuin:
“They all know it is there, all the people of Omelas. Some of them
have come to see it, others are content merely to know it is there.
They all know that it has to be there. Some of them understand
why, and some do not, but they all understand that their
happiness, the beauty of their city, the tenderness of their
friendships, the health of their children, the wisdom of their
scholars, the skill of their makers, even the abundance of their
harvest and the kindly weathers of their skies, depend wholly on
this child's abominable misery.”
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Against UtilitarianismA Sweat-shop in India
Chicken Factory Farming
Source: https://www.newidea.com.au/nike-sweatshops-the-truth-aboutthe-nike-factory-scandal
Source: https://thehumaneleague.org/article/factory-farm-to-table-thetruth-behind-cheap-meat-eggs-and-dairy
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Against UtilitarianismObjections to Utilitarianism
“Are Consequences all that matter?”
If things other than consequences are important in determining what is right, then
Utilitarianism is incorrect.
Other factors matter:
JUSTICE: Justice requires us to treat people fairly, according to the facts of their particular
situations. If Utilitarianisms requests that we treat someone unfairly, then Utilitarianism can’t
be right.
RIGHTS: We all have rights, and it shouldn’t be ok that someone’s or some people’s rights are
violated in order to produce more happiness or pleasure for other people.
BACKWARD-LOOKING REASONS: Utilitarianism only cares about the consequence and so it
doesn’t look at things that took place in the past and could be relevant to making a decision.
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Against Utilitarianism10.
Against UtilitarianismObjections to Utilitarianism
“Are Consequences all that matter?”
If things other than consequences are important in determining what is right, then
Utilitarianism is incorrect.
Other factors matter:
JUSTICE: Justice requires us to treat people fairly, according to the facts of their particular
situations. If Utilitarianisms requests that we treat someone unfairly, then Utilitarianism can’t
be right.
RIGHTS: We all have rights, and it shouldn’t be ok that someone’s or some people’s rights are
violated in order to produce more happiness or pleasure for other people.
BACKWARD-LOOKING REASONS: Utilitarianism only cares about the consequence and so it
doesn’t look at things that took place in the past and could be relevant to making a decision.
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Against UtilitarianismMEASURING UTILITY – PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE
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Against UtilitarianismDEFENCE OF UTILITARIANISM
Revision of Classic Utilitarianism
RULE-UTILITARIANISM
ACT-UTILITARIANISM
(Revised theory)
(Classic theory)
Utilitarianism should be used to decide not the most moral action
BUT which set of RULES is optimal from a utilitarian viewpoint.
Utilitarianism should be used to decide the most moral action
based on the consequence of utility and maximizing happiness.
Which rules would help maximize happiness.
Actions should be evaluated based on these rules.
BUT: Should we always follow the rules? What if by not following the rule we would increase the total good a lot?
1. Rules can be violated sometimes going back to case to case evaluation Act-Utilitarianism
2. Phrase the rules in a way where by breaking them you would not increase happiness. Possibility to break the rules Not
Rule-Utilitarianism
3. Rules should never be broken. Doesn’t care about consequences Not Utilitarianism