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Critical section: Raise two or three objections to Bentham's principle of utility. What reasons do you think we have to doubt that it is the fundamental principle of morality? It is often helpful to give concrete examples to illustrate your objections.
One obvious argument against Bentham's philosophy is that it is unrealistic to think that a decision-maker can easily determine the best, utilitarian interests of the majority in a disinterested fashion. Bentham's utilitarian decision-maker is presumed to be completely objective, but it is hard to imagine such an individual existing in the real world. Using moral laws, rather than a situational utilitarian calculus might seem to be superior to Bentham's hedonic calculus.
Another objection to utilitarian philosophy is the need to preserve minority rights. In the era of segregation in the American South, the majority of whites wanted the oppression of African-Americans to continue indefinitely. According to the hedonic calculus the 'pleasure' of whites in total population numbers would outweigh the 'pain' inflicted upon...
Of course, Bentham might argue that the pain for whites of ending segregation was less than the pain for African-Americans of continuing segregation -- in other words, utilitarian principles could support justice. The immediate nature of African-American's pain would also be taken into consideration by Bentham. "Given that pleasure and pain are fundamental to -- indeed, provide -- the standard of value for Bentham, liberty is a good (because it is 'pleasant') and the restriction of liberty is an evil (because it is 'painful')" (Sweet 2008).
A final objection to Bentham's philosophy is the question of predicting consequences. One cannot always predict the consequences of one's actions and determine if the maximization of happiness is possible. Given the inability to see into the future, once again, it could be argued that it is better to do what is right than what is expedient.
Works Cited
Sweet, William. "Bentham, Jeremy." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. December 23, 2008.
[September 11, 2010]. http://www.iep.utm.edu/bentham/#H4
Works Cited
Sweet, William. "Bentham, Jeremy." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. December 23, 2008.
[September 11, 2010]. http://www.iep.utm.edu/bentham/#H4
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