Deck 8: Utilitarianism: Bentham and Mill

Question 1

Hare advances the proposal that each person should be understood as using morality at two levels.Explain what he means by this claim.

Answer 1

Answers will vary.A sufficient answer should/might include the distinction between intuitive morality and critical moral thinking,that utility comes in at the second of these levels,and/or that we turn to utilitarianism when ordinary intuitions fails us.

Question 2

The ancient Jewish text known in English as Ethics of the Fathers includes one of the earliest versions of the saying "no pain,no gain." How would utilitarians understand this motto?

A) The eventual pleasure is worth the immediate pain.
B) Pain is necessary for growth.
C) We should avoid all pains in order to understand the world.
D) Change is hard.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What is the difference between a theory of the good and a theory of the right?

A) The terms are interchangable;use depends upon from which philosophical tradition one comes.
B) Theory of the good is broader than theory of the right.
C) Theory of the right tells us what sort of things are right;theory of the good tells us about actions.
D) Theory of the good tells us what sort of things are good;theory of the right tells us about actions.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Bentham's method of proof is best understood as which of the following?

A) argument by analogy
B) argument by elimination
C) argument from principles
D) argument from contradiction

Question 5

Mill attempts to provide a philosophical foundation for utilitarianism by showing that pleasure and freedom from pain have instrumental rather than intrinsic value.

Question 6

Mill draws an analogy between proving that people desire happiness and which of the following?

A) that people think the conceptual
B) that people sense the eerie
C) that people see the visible
D) that people reject the fallacious

Question 7

Some ethicists believe that we are able to identify the morally correct action through direct perception or intuition.Which of the following is Bentham's response to these theorists?

A) They are too prone to error.
B) They provide no insight into morality or assistance with moral reasoning.
C) There is too much disagreement between people to accept.
D) They have no evidence for the correctness of their stance.

Question 8

A common metric used in chronic medicine is the amount of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs)a patient has.Discuss how Mill's utilitarianism can be relevant to that discussion.

Question 9

Mill advocated for a reform in the relationship between England and Ireland in a number of essays.This political advocacy is MOST similar to which of the following?

A) his work for women's equality
B) his work for the British East India Company
C) his work as rector of University of St.Andrews
D) his work on systemizing induction

Question 10

Briefly explain the difficulty that Carritt's thought experiment about punishing an innocent person offers to utilitarianism.

Question 11

A common metric in triaging and diagnosing illness is a pain scale.Generally,patients report how much pain they are in on a scale of 1 to 10.These scales can be reinterpreted as an attempt to overcome which difficulty?

A) Lewis's problem of pain
B) interpersonal comparisons of utility
C) cardinal measurements of utility
D) Mohs's hardness scale

Question 12

In the 1960s,Walter Mischel conducted an experiment wherein children could choose to eat a single marshmallow now or wait fifteen minutes and eat two.Measuring the impact on happiness would involve which of Bentham's features?

A) remoteness
B) purity
C) fecundity
D) certainty

Question 13

Briefly discuss if you would "plug in" to Nozick's experience machine and how your answer is connected to utilitarian ethics.

Question 14

A recurring difficulty for utilitarian theorists is the nontechnical use of the term utility to refer to which of the following?

A) plain/not fancy
B) useful
C) pain-free
D) flexible

Question 15

What is the moral standard that utilitarianism uses in making decisions?

A) intellectual contentment,understood by lack of internal conflict
B) pleasure,understood as an amount of satisfaction
C) happiness,understood as the balance of pleasure over pain
D) happiness,understood as a state of contentment

Question 16

Imagine that you discover that your neighbor Cameron has taken a job that entails him working all day hitting puppies over the head with a club until they die.He mentions that he finds it rather therapeutic and enjoyable.How might a utilitarian approach an analysis of Cameron's actions?

Question 17

Imagine that Phil is explaining to his friend Keith which pieces of music he enjoys listening to and ranks them according to preference.Phil is using what sort of measurement?

A) partiality indicator
B) penchant hierarchy
C) cardinal scale
D) ordinal scale