Term
| Mill: Our two sovereign masters |
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Definition
| Pleasure and pain. Govern all that we do. |
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Term
| Mill & Bentham: how do we determine whether an action is morally right? |
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Definition
An action is right insofar as it increases total happiness
An action is wrong insofar as it decreases total happiness |
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Term
| Bentham: things to consider when determining the magnitude of a pain or pleasure. |
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Definition
Duration.
Intensity.
Propinquity. (distance)
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Term
| Mill: Things to consider when determining the magnitude of a pain or pleasure |
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Definition
Duration.
Intensity.
Propinquity. (distance)
Source.
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Term
| Doctrine of High and Lower pleasures |
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Definition
| Mill's view that the source of a pleasure is key in ranking pleasures. Higher pleasures for example are ones that we have the capacity to enjoy while animals don't. Lower pleasures are crass. Reading a novel is a higher pleasure while eating is a lower pleasure. |
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Term
| What would lead us to say that pleasure x is a higher pleasure than pleasure y? |
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Definition
| If when given with the choice we would prefer pleasure x than it is a higher pleasure. |
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Term
| Who are we to ask when determining the relative values of pleasure? |
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Definition
| A person who has extensive knowledge of both pleasures. Mill believes that any such person will always choose the higher pleasure over the lower pleasure. |
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Term
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Definition
| philosophy of what is "good" |
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Term
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Definition
| Philosophy of what is right. |
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Term
| What is mill's value theory? |
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Definition
| Hedonism-->pleasure is the only thing that is intrinsically worth pursuing |
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Term
| What is mill's moral theory? |
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Definition
| An action is right if it tends to increase total happiness and wrong if it tends to decrease total happiness |
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Term
| Problem with Mill's Hedonism |
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Definition
| Consider: If life #1 was filled with lower pleasures and life #2 was filled with higher pleasure but the leader of life #1 gained more total pleasure than the leader of life #2 than life #1 should be preferable, according to a hedonist. But Mill would say that life #2 is more pleasurable because he prefers higher pleasure to lower ones. |
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Term
| The impartiality of utilitarianism |
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Definition
everyone's happiness counts the same
The virtuous person is impartial. For example if i published a really valuable piece of intellectual work that should mean the same to me as if someone else published that same work because in both cases happiness was increased. |
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Term
| Motives in Utilitarianism |
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Definition
| Mill says that the motive of an action has nothing to do with that action's worth. It only has to do with the worth of the agent. |
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Term
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Definition
| Motivate us to act morally out of fear that if we don't something bad will happen to us. For example, we don't kill people because we don't want to go to jail. |
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Term
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Definition
| A subjective feeling within us that motivates us to act morally. When we act immorally we feel pangs of pain which are unpleasant so we try to avoid them. |
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Term
| According to mill what influences us to follow the principles of Utilitarianism specifically? |
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Definition
| There's a natural push towards utilitarianism due to our tendency to desire unity with our fellow man. |
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Term
| How does mill prove that happiness is desirable? |
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Definition
| How do you prove something is audible? by hearing it. How do you prove something is visible? by seeing it. How do you prove happiness is desirable? by desiring it. And many people desire it. |
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Term
| Problem with Mill's proof that happiness is desirable as an end. |
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Definition
| The way he proves it by making an analogy to hearing and seeing establishes that the happiness of the individual is desired by said individual but neglects to affirm that the general happiness is desired by all. |
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Term
| How does Mill prove that happiness is the only thing desired? |
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Definition
| When we desire other things such as virtue, and security, we desire them only as part of our happiness. |
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Term
| Potential problems with deriving obligations of justice under the principle of utility. |
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Definition
Problem 1: We have such strong sentiments about justice more powerful than the sentiments we have of increasing total human happiness so how can something more important be derived from something less important
Problem 2: Utility is very flexible and doesn’t deliver absolute rules so how can it give rise to the principle of justice which appear to be absolute and inflexible
Problem 3: the rules of justice may conflict with the principle of utility so how can justice just have been derived from the principle of utility
Problem 4: Principle of utility doesn’t care about how the utils of happiness are distributed among people but justice is very sensitive to this (ex distributing bill gates's money)
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Term
| What is a perfect duty in utilitarianism? |
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Definition
| A moral obligation + a personal right |
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Term
| Personal Right in utility |
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Definition
| to have something which society ought to defend me in the possession of |
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Term
| According to Mill what is the most important interest of humanity? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is Moore's Value theory? |
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Definition
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Term
| Why is "good" undefinable? |
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Definition
| Because if we take the sentence "the good is _____" there is nothing we can fill the blank with that would be correct. If we're trying to define something else like "bachelor" we can say "a bachelor is _____" and fill the blank with things like single, male, adult, unmarried. And those are synonymous with bachelor while anything we fill the blank for good with is not synonymous with "good". it will always leave an open question. If we try to fill it with "pleasure" for example we will have the open question: "x is pleasant, but is x good?" |
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Term
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Definition
| Occurs when we try to fill the blank of what "good" is with something that can be discovered by science. For example pleasure can be discovered by science and therefore filling that blank with pleasure is committing a naturalistic fallacy. |
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Term
| Moore's critique of Mill's proof that happiness is a good. |
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Definition
| Proving that happiness is desirable isn't the same as saying that a sound is audible. It just means that it ought to be desired it doesnt meant that it is desired, so Mill didn't prove anything by that. |
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Term
| Moore's critique of Mill's belief that happiness is the ONLY good desired. |
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Definition
| If pleasure is the only thing that you desire than it can be the only object of your desire. But when you (for ex) want a glass of wine it is the glass of wine you want and not the pleasure. Because if all you wanted was pleasure you could be desiring and object as long as it brought you the same amount of pleasure. |
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Term
| Moore's opinion on pleasure |
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Definition
| Pleasure often precipitates desire. We feel pleasure from the idea of a thing which causes us to want that thing. |
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Term
| Moore's response to Mill saying that the things we desire other than pleasure we only desire are part of our happiness. |
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Definition
| If happiness means pleasure (which Mill says it does) then it doesnt have parts. |
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Term
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Definition
Consequentialism: An action is right if out of all the options available to me, it was the one that most increased total happiness (had the best result). An action is wrong insofar as its final result was not the one that could've most increased total happiness.
Consequentialism= utilitarianism - hedonism |
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Term
| Bentham's problem with Hume's sympathy? |
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Definition
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a man following the principle of sympathy deems anything immoral that doesn't coincide with his own beliefs
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