UTILITARIANISM

WEIGHING SOCIAL COSTS AND BENEFITS

DEFINITION
Utilitarianism is a general term for any view that holds that actions and policies should be evaluated on the basis of the benefits and costs they will impose on the Society. In any situation the right action or policy is the one that will produce the greatest net benefits or the lowest net costs.

JEREMY BENTHAM (1748-1832)

An action is right from ethical point of view if and only if the sum total of utilities by that act is greater than the sum total of utilities produced by any other act the agent could have produced in its place

ASSUMPTIONS
Utility means net benefit produced by an action Assumption of Utilitarianism is we can somehow measure and add the quantities of benefits produced and subtract from them the quantities of harm

Best action means that it produces most utility than any other possible action. It is not for the person performing the action but utility for all persons affected by the action including person performing the action It does not mean that action is right as long as its benefit outweigh all its costs. It rather means that in the final analysis only one action is right All the direct and indirect, immediate and foreseeable benefits and costs are to be considered.

UTILITARIAN PROCESS OF DECISION MAKING

Determining what alternate actions and policies are available For each alternative action examining the direct and indirect benefits and costs that the action will probably produce to each and every person affected by the action in the foreseeable future The alternative that produces the greatest sum total of utility must be chosen as the ethically appropriate course of action.

MEASUREMENT PROBLEMS

Objectivity Values like health, life etc. cannot be measured Forseeable benefits or costs are not easily predictable. What to count as benefit or cost is not clear. Utilitarianism assumes that all benefits are tradable but non economic goods like life, love, freedom cannot be converted in terms of money.

UTILITARIAN REPLIES

Values need not be quantified but expressly stated. Commonsense criteria is to be followed. Sociological surveys, votings etc. are to be taken.

CRITIQUE OF UTILITARIANISM
- Greatest good for greatest number attractive government policies and public good - Fits intuitive criteria for moral conduct - Explains why certain actions are always right or wrong but traditional Utilitarianism will deny any kind of action is always right or wrong

- Highly influenced Economics Cost Benefit Analysis - Efficiency = Output Benefit / Input Cost

QUESTIONS
HUMAN RIGHTS ? JUSTICE?