Week 11 — Ethics II: Utilitarianism

Why this matters

A nursing student who may one day sit on a hospital committee and a business major weighing a plan that helps most customers both face this week's question: is an act right because of the good it does for everyone?

In plain language

This week asks whether an act is right because of the good it does. One family of answers, consequentialism (the view that only an act's results decide whether it is right), says to look at what an act brings about. Its best-known member, utilitarianism (the view that the right act produces the most happiness for everyone, counted equally), says to add up the happiness and suffering of everyone the act touches. You meet its two founders, test it with three hard objections, and wade into a famous thought experiment about a child in a pond. Your goal is to state the theory as its best defenders would and to weigh the objections fairly, not to pick a winner.

• Already covered: Week 2 gave you standard form and validity, and Week 10 asked whether morality is relative and met ethical egoism.
• This week: utilitarianism, Bentham and Mill, act and rule utilitarianism, three objections, and Singer's drowning child.
• How they connect: you test the first full ethical theory with Week 2's tools.
• Where we're going next: Week 12 adds Kant, virtue ethics, and the trolley problem.

Focus

Is an act right because of the happiness it brings to everyone, each person counted equally?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• [ ] state utilitarianism at its strongest and quote Bentham and Mill exactly
• [ ] say where Mill parts from Bentham
• [ ] apply act and rule utilitarianism to a promise
• [ ] state three objections, each with a reply
• [ ] reconstruct the drowning child and judge it valid

To-do

Plan your week

1. Read Chapter 11 (~40–50 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
2. Work the lecture tutorial (60–90 minutes).
3. Do the practice exercises (15–25 minutes).
4. Do the Philosophy Workshop (about 90 minutes), discussion, and assignment.
5. Take the quiz.

This week's checkpoint: explain why utilitarianism is not ethical egoism.

You've got this

Take it in order, and ask your instructor early if stuck.

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