Merits of Right and Wrong: A Philosopher’s View

The philosophy of Utilitarianism requires certain conditions to be fulfilled in order for an action to be considered ‘right’. The teleological nature of Utilitarianism and differences in opinion as to what constitutes those conditions being met allows 2 Utilitarians to decide on different ‘right’ courses of action even thought they are using the same theory.

There are two forms of Utilitarianism. The first, developed by J. Bentham is called Act Utilitarianism and places pleasure as the most important condition to be met. J.S. Mill came after Bentham and improved on Bentham’s theory, calling the new version of the philosophy Rule Utilitarianism. Rule Utilitarianism graded the pleasure into higher and lower thus making the reasoning used to decide the right course of action operate differently to when employing Act Utilitarianism. Therefore, the two forms of Utilitarianism ask for different conditions to be met before a right course of action is decided upon.

Act Utilitarians use the Hedonic Calculus to work out what course of action will provide the most pleasure (Act Utilitarians use pleasure synonymously with happiness) for the most number of people (Greatest Happiness Principle). The Hedonic Calculus takes into account things like the intensity of the pleasure, the duration, certainty, extent, richness, purity and remoteness and calculates what will cause the most pleasure. For example, if a man was a glutton and ate 15 large pies every day, some Act Utilitarians would argue that it is a morally right action because the eating of the pies produce pleasure. They would argue that the pleasure is certain, that it is an immediate pleasure and that the happiness of the man will spread pleasure to other people. However, other Act Utilitarians would argue that the pain of the health difficulties caused by eating 15 pies a day would outweigh the pleasure. They would also say that he is putting upon others as he will probably require hospitalization and use up valuable money for other patients. Rule Utilitarians would also differ in what they think is the right course of action for the gluttonous man. They regard eating as a lower pleasure, a carnal and unfulfilling pleasure which is a waste of time. The would argue that instead of taking the time to eat 15 pies every day, the man should use his time to partake in the higher pleasures, like writing poetry, painting or sculpture. They would also say that he is wasting his money buying 15 pies, that the money could be used instead to buy books or art.

 I don’t think that Rule Utilitarian could be used to argue both sides of the gluttony argument because of the difference in higher and lower pleasures.

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