Introduction to Utilitarianism

Sidgwick was born in 1838 to a wealthy family in Yorkshire, England. He studied at Cambridge as an undergraduate, where he stayed for the rest of his life. While he is best known as a moral philosopher, he was also a political economist, epistemologist, classicist, theologist, educator, political theorist and parapsychologist (studying psychic phenomena, including telepathy and survival after deat...

Richard M. Hare (1919 - 2002) is usually acknowledged to be one of the major moral thinkers of the 20th century. After being a Japanese prisoner of war for most of World War II, he completed his education at Oxford, later joining the faculty and becoming a professor. In 1983 he moved to the University of Florida but still kept his ties with Oxford. He had many students, including Peter Singer. The...

Singer was born in 1946, Melbourne, Australia, to an Austrian Jewish family that emigrated from Austria to escape persecution by the Nazis. He studied law, history and philosophy at the University of Melbourne, and majored in philosophy. He later did a B.Phil at Oxford University, where he associated with a vegetarian student group and became a vegetarian himself. Around this time he wrote Animal...

In this summary of her 2016 book The Feeling of Value, Sharon Hewitt Rawlette defends “analytic hedonism”. From our direct acquaintance with the intrinsic value of good and bad experiential states, we can build an entire ethical system that is fully grounded in observable fact. The original text contained 26 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: July 11th, 2023 Sou...

This essay advances three claims about utilitarianism and nonhuman animals. Utilitarianism plausibly implies, first, that all vertebrates and many invertebrates morally matter, but that some of these animals might matter more than others; second, that we should attempt to both promote animal welfare and respect animal rights in practice; and third, that we should prioritize farmed and wild animals...

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) sought to design a set of legal and political institutions that would conform to the ‘principle of utility’, i.e. produce the most happiness. This article presents a survey of his famous work, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, and discusses Bentham’s thinking about what utilitarian criminal law would look like. The original text contained 26 fo...

When we’re less than fully certain of which moral view is correct, it may be wise to ‘hedge our bets’ by finding a compromise between the different views we find plausible. This essay especially explores the implications of moral uncertainty for utilitarian-friendly agents—those who have non-negligible confidence in utilitarianism or in some of its central claims. The original text contained 13 fo...

How does utilitarianism direct us to respond to climate change? This essay explores the harms caused by carbon emissions, how the cost-effectiveness of reducing emissions compares to other global priorities, and what both individuals and governments ought to do in light of these facts. The original text contained 16 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: July 11th,...

This essay questions common assumptions about the philosophical foundations of research ethics. It argues that (I) utilitarianism can account for many core research ethics norms, (II) Kantian ethics may conflict with many core research ethics norms, and (III) a more utilitarian outlook would improve contemporary research ethics in concrete ways. The original text contained 40 footnotes which were...

Many deny that objective and universal moral truth exists. Many more deny that it can be empirically discovered within natural reality. The arguments in this essay seek to empirically discover objective and universal moral truth in natural reality. This truth is that pleasure is goodness. The original text contained 38 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: July 11t...

This article discusses how utilitarians should go about applying their philosophy in the real world. It argues that utilitarians should cultivate a set of utilitarian virtues, including moderate altruism, moral expansiveness, effectiveness-focus, truth-seeking, collaborativeness, and determination. A longer version of this essay can be found here: https://psyarxiv.com/w52zm The original text conta...

This article analyses the extent to which elements of utilitarianism can be found within (i) the Early Buddhist tradition, and (ii) classical Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism. It then explores a Buddhist perspective on well-being, and concludes by comparing Engaged Buddhism to effective altruism. The original text contained 61 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: January...

The utilitarian goal of promoting everyone’s interests is complicated by the Parfitian view that one’s self-interest across time is a matter of degree (based on psychological connectedness) rather than all-or-nothing identity. This essay introduces and explores the Time-Relative Account of Interests, which uniquely captures key intuitions about the relative misfortune of death at diffe...

Many students of economics and philosophy have been puzzled by whether utility is cardinally or only ordinally measurable, and whether interpersonal comparisons of utility are possible in principle and in practice. This essay attempts to answer these questions, using simple arguments. ---Outline:(00:15) Abstract(01:39) Is Utility Ordinal or Cardinal?(06:26) Does Welfare Economics Need Interpersona...

Expected Utility Maximization directs us to weigh the value associated with each possible outcome by its probability, yielding an overall expected value. This essay explains Expected Utility Maximization as a decision theory and defends its most distinctive feature: that it can advise us to choose options that will predictably lose. This essay was adapted (with permission) from two of Joe Carlsmit...

This essay discusses the value of voting from a utilitarian perspective. It explores how to estimate the chance of casting a decisive vote, how to think about the stakes of an election, and whether we can reliably identify which candidate is better. ---Outline:(00:29) Introduction(04:27) The Chance of Casting a Decisive Vote(08:42) The Argument (applied to our case)(11:24) Impartiality and Altruis...

As an abstract ideal, utilitarianism may sound like simple common sense. But utilitarianism has some implications that are counterintuitive. This essay explores how psychological biases can explain anti-utilitarian intuitions. ---Outline:(01:20) Deviations from Impartiality(04:25) Deviations from Maximization(08:03) Deviations from Consequentialism(15:50) Deviations from Aggregate Welfarism(21:12)...

Utilitarianism offers an attractive approach to political philosophy that combines pragmatic attention to consequences with robust protections for individual liberty. ---Outline:(00:11) Introduction(02:01) Utility and the Goal of Politics(04:04) Deferring to Authority(11:52) Utility and Liberty(18:01) Justice for Utilitarians(21:21) Utilitarian Public Policy(23:22) Universal Basic Income(26:11) Fu...

Maximizing profits can predictably diverge from what does the most good. When the two come apart, utilitarian principles imply that promoting well-being is more important than maximizing profits. ---Outline:(00:11) Business ethics and moral theory(03:00) Economic arguments and profit maximization(11:23) Utilitarian objections to profit maximization(13:22) Preference satisfaction and alternative ac...

Utilitarianism is a moral theory that combines two key claims: (1) Everyone matters equally and (2) It’s better to do more good than less.Seems obvious, right? --- First published: January 29th, 2023 Source: https://utilitarianism.net/utilitarianism-for-high-school-students --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Peter Singer’s ‘Famine, Affluence, and Morality’1 is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential texts in applied ethics. This study guide explains Singer’s central argument, explores possible objections, and clarifies common misunderstandings. The original text contained 19 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: January 29th, 2023 Source: https://u...

Study guide for Peter Singer's Animal Liberation (1975). ---Outline:(00:13) Introduction(01:09) Singer's Argument Against Speciesism(04:55) Factory Farming(07:13) Equal Consideration versus Identical Treatment(11:14) Objections(15:43) Practical Implications(19:10) Conclusion(20:07) Discussion Questions(21:25) Want to learn more about utilitarianism?(21:28) Resources and Further Reading The origina...

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On Liberty (1859) details Mill's view that individuals should be left wholly free to engage in any activity, thought or belief that does not harm others. Simple though it sounds, it is a position that challenges our ideas on the very nature of government and society, and sheds light on some of the key issues we face today. A key text of political philosophy, On Liberty has been continuously in pri...

On Liberty (1859) details Mill's view that individuals should be left wholly free to engage in any activity, thought or belief that does not harm others. Simple though it sounds, it is a position that challenges our ideas on the very nature of government and society, and sheds light on some of the key issues we face today. A key text of political philosophy, On Liberty has been continuously in pri...