Utilitarismo - Bentham e Stuart Mill

Trilhante

14 Nov 201812:02

Summary

TLDRThe script delves into the moral dilemmas faced by a doctor, exploring the utilitarian theory of ethics. It contrasts two moral perspectives: consequentialism, focusing on the outcomes of actions, and deontological ethics, emphasizing duties and rights. Utilitarianism, advocated by Jeremy Bentham, is highlighted as a simple yet compelling approach to justice, aiming to maximize happiness for the greatest number. The script discusses calculating utility, considering pleasure, pain, and their intensity, duration, certainty, and proximity. John Stuart Mill's version of utilitarianism, incorporating the principle of individual liberty, is also examined, adding nuance to the theory.

Takeaways

😀 The script discusses a moral dilemma faced by a doctor, highlighting the choice between saving one severely injured patient or treating five with minor injuries, with the majority opinion being to save the severely injured.
🤔 It presents a modified scenario where the doctor has the option to sacrifice one healthy patient to provide organs for five others in urgent need of transplants, questioning the morality of such an action.
🔍 Two types of moral thinking are introduced: consequentialism, which focuses on the outcomes of actions, and deontological ethics, which emphasizes duties and rights regardless of outcomes.
📚 Utilitarianism is explained as a theory of justice that seeks the greatest good for the greatest number, with Jeremy Bentham's principle of utility being central to its philosophy.
🌟 Utilitarianism is described as relatively simple and interesting, focusing on maximizing happiness and pleasure, and minimizing pain and suffering.
📈 The concept of utility is defined as the property that produces benefit, pleasure, or happiness, and Bentham's four circumstances for calculating utility are mentioned: intensity, duration, certainty, and proximity.
🏛 John Stuart Mill is introduced as a utilitarian who advocated for a more nuanced approach, incorporating the principle of individual liberty and limiting societal interference.
🚀 Mill's principle of liberty suggests that individuals should not be accountable to society for their actions unless they harm others, contrasting with the more extreme utilitarian view.
🛑 The script uses the famous 'trolley problem' to illustrate utilitarian decision-making, where sacrificing one to save five is considered the morally correct action.
🤯 It also discusses the potential tyranny of utilitarian thought, where the ends justify the means, even if it involves extreme actions like pushing a person off a bridge to stop a runaway trolley.
🌐 The script concludes by emphasizing utilitarianism's simplicity and its applicability to both individual and public justice, as well as its influence on policy and ethical decision-making.

Q & A

What dilemma does the doctor face in the initial scenario presented in the script?
-The doctor faces a moral dilemma of whether to save one severely injured patient or to treat five patients with minor injuries.
What is the majority's obvious response to the doctor's dilemma in the first scenario?
-The majority's response is that the doctor should attend to the severely injured person.
How does the script change the scenario to introduce the concept of utilitarianism?
-The scenario changes to a situation where the doctor has five patients in need of urgent organ transplants and one healthy patient with a minor arm injury, raising the question of whether it's morally right to take the organs from the healthy patient to save the five others.
What are the two types of moral thinking presented in the script?
-The two types of moral thinking are consequentialism, which focuses on the consequences of an act, and deontological ethics, which focuses on the inherent rightness of an act regardless of the consequences.
Who is the main proponent of deontological ethics mentioned in the script?
-Immanuel Kant is the main proponent of deontological ethics mentioned in the script.
What is utilitarianism and why is it considered a simple theory to understand?
-Utilitarianism is a theory of justice that proposes the right action is the one that maximizes overall happiness or pleasure. It is considered simple because it focuses on the principle of utility and requires calculating the utility of different actions to determine the best course of action.
Who is considered the father of utilitarianism and what does he define as utility?
-Jeremy Bentham is considered the father of utilitarianism. He defines utility as the property of any object that tends to produce or provide beneficial pleasure, happiness, or well-being, or to prevent harm, pain, evil, or unhappiness for those whose interests are considered.
What is the core principle of utilitarianism as described in the script?
-The core principle of utilitarianism is to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people, which is often referred to as 'the greatest happiness principle'.
How does the script address the problem of calculating utility in utilitarianism?
-The script mentions that calculating utility is challenging and requires considering the intensity, duration, certainty, and proximity of the pleasure or pain resulting from an action.
What is the 'trolley problem' and how does utilitarianism approach it?
-The trolley problem is a hypothetical scenario where a runaway trolley is heading towards five people, and one person has the option to divert the trolley onto another track, where it would kill one person instead. Utilitarianism would suggest pulling the lever to save the greater number of people, thus causing the death of one to prevent the death of five.
Who is John Stuart Mill and how does he contribute to the utilitarianism theory?
-John Stuart Mill is a disciple of Jeremy Bentham and a proponent of a more moderate and flexible form of utilitarianism. He introduced the principle of liberty, arguing that individuals should not be accountable to society for their actions as long as they do not harm others, and that government interference should only be to prevent harm to others, not to maximize utility.
How does the script illustrate the conflict between utilitarianism and individual liberty in the context of a bomb threat?
-The script presents a scenario where a police officer has a person who knows the location of a bomb about to explode in a shopping center. While a classical utilitarian might argue for torturing the person to save many lives, Mill's version of utilitarianism would oppose this, arguing that torturing the individual infringes upon their liberty, even if it could prevent greater harm.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Ethical Dilemmas and Utilitarianism

The script introduces a moral dilemma faced by a doctor, who must choose between treating a severely injured patient or attending to five others with minor injuries. The majority opinion favors saving the severely injured, highlighting the consequentialist approach to ethics. The script then contrasts this with the deontological approach, emphasizing the importance of duty and rules, as advocated by Immanuel Kant. It introduces utilitarianism, a theory of justice focused on maximizing happiness, and mentions its proponents, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. The utilitarian principle is explained through Bentham's definition of utility, which seeks to promote pleasure and happiness while avoiding pain and suffering. The script also touches on the challenges of calculating utility in practical scenarios.

05:03

📏 Utilitarianism: Calculating Happiness and Public Policy

This paragraph delves deeper into the utilitarian approach, discussing how it can be applied to both individual and public decision-making. It outlines the factors that Bentham suggested should be considered when calculating utility, such as the intensity, duration, certainty, and proximity of pleasure or pain. The script uses examples to illustrate utilitarianism in action, including a scenario where a government must decide between funding an expensive experimental treatment for one person or increasing hospital capacity to benefit many. The utilitarian choice would be the one that maximizes overall happiness. The paragraph also introduces a famous thought experiment, the trolley problem, to further explore utilitarian ethics.

10:05

🚧 John Stuart Mill's Qualified Utilitarianism and the Harm Principle

The final paragraph introduces John Stuart Mill's perspective on utilitarianism, which incorporates the principle of individual liberty. Mill argued that individuals should be free to act without societal interference unless their actions harm others. This approach tempers the strict utilitarian calculus by prioritizing personal freedom, except in cases where it is necessary to prevent harm to others. The script contrasts Mill's view with the classic utilitarian stance, using the example of a ticking bomb to illustrate the conflict between maximizing utility and respecting individual rights. Mill would oppose torture in this scenario, even if it could save many lives, due to the infringement on the individual's liberty. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing Mill's nuanced take on utilitarianism, which seeks a balance between the greater good and individual freedoms.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that posits the best action is the one that maximizes overall happiness or pleasure. In the video, utilitarianism is the central theme, with the script discussing its principles and applications in moral decision-making. The script uses examples like the dilemma of a doctor choosing between saving one severely injured patient or five with minor injuries to illustrate the concept of maximizing utility.

💡Consequentialism

Consequentialism is the idea that the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its consequences. It is related to utilitarianism as both focus on outcomes. The script mentions that utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism where the action with the best outcome—maximizing happiness—is considered the right one.

💡Moral Dilemma

A moral dilemma refers to a situation where making a decision involves a conflict of moral imperatives. The script presents several moral dilemmas, such as the doctor's choice and the trolley problem, to explore the application of utilitarian principles in difficult situations.

💡Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham is the founder of utilitarianism, and his work is highlighted in the script as fundamental to understanding the concept of utility. Bentham's principle of 'the greatest good for the greatest number' is a guiding principle in utilitarian decision-making.

💡Utility

Utility, in the context of utilitarianism, refers to the property of an action that tends to produce benefit, pleasure, or happiness while avoiding pain or unhappiness. The script explains that utilitarianism seeks to calculate the utility of actions to determine the most ethical choice.

💡John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill is a utilitarian philosopher who introduced a more nuanced approach to utilitarianism, emphasizing individual liberty. The script contrasts Mill's version of utilitarianism with Bentham's, noting Mill's incorporation of the harm principle and his defense of individual freedoms.

💡Harm Principle

The harm principle, as introduced by John Stuart Mill, states that individual liberty should be curtailed only to prevent harm to others. The script uses this principle to discuss the limits of utilitarianism, suggesting that not all actions that increase overall happiness are morally permissible if they infringe on individual rights.

💡Trolley Problem

The trolley problem is a hypothetical scenario used in ethics to illustrate the conflict between acting and allowing harm to occur, and to test moral intuition. The script presents variations of the trolley problem to explore the utilitarian approach to moral decision-making.

💡Moral Rights

Moral rights refer to the inherent rights of individuals to make decisions about their own lives without unjustified interference. The script briefly mentions the concept of moral rights in the context of the organ transplant dilemma, where the rights of one healthy individual conflict with the potential to save five others.

💡Principle of Liberty

The principle of liberty, as discussed in the script in relation to John Stuart Mill's philosophy, asserts that individuals should be free to act as they wish unless their actions harm others. This principle is used to critique the more extreme applications of utilitarianism that might justify sacrificing individual rights for the greater good.

💡Calculation of Utility

The calculation of utility involves assessing the overall happiness or pleasure an action will produce, considering factors such as intensity, duration, certainty, and proximity of the resulting pleasure or pain. The script explains that utilitarians use this calculation to determine the most ethical course of action.

Highlights

A doctor faces a moral dilemma of choosing between saving one severely injured patient or attending to five with minor injuries.

The majority opinion is that the doctor should attend to the severely injured patient to save a life.

A variation of the dilemma involves a doctor with five patients needing urgent organ transplants and one healthy patient available to provide those organs.

The question of moral correctness in organ harvesting from a healthy individual to save five others is raised.

Two types of moral thinking are distinguished: consequentialism, focusing on the consequences of an act, and deontological ethics, emphasizing duty and rules.

Utilitarianism, introduced by Jeremy Bentham, is a theory of justice that seeks the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

Utilitarianism is a relatively simple and interesting theory of thought that prioritizes pleasure and happiness over pain and suffering.

Bentham's principle of utility is defined as the property that produces benefit, pleasure, or happiness, and prevents pain or unhappiness.

Utilitarianism proposes a quantitative principle of calculating utility to determine the best decision for maximizing happiness.

Bentham outlines four circumstances to consider when calculating the value of happiness or pleasure: intensity, duration, certainty, and proximity.

Utilitarianism can be applied to both individual and public justice, guiding decisions in personal life and public policy.

An example of utilitarianism in public policy involves a government's decision between funding an expensive experimental treatment or increasing hospital beds.

The famous trolley problem is discussed, illustrating the utilitarian approach to ethical decision-making in life-or-death scenarios.

John Stuart Mill introduces a more moderate and flexible version of utilitarianism, incorporating the principle of individual liberty.

Mill's principle of liberty asserts that individuals should not be accountable to society for their actions unless they harm others.

Mill's utilitarianism limits government interference, allowing it only to prevent harm to others, not to maximize utility.

The transcript concludes by emphasizing the simplicity and interest of utilitarianism as a theory of justice, suitable for ethical decision-making.