2014-2-PHI110-08

__NOTITLE__ Studying 2014/2 PHI110: Philosophy, Morality and Society. Week 8. Undertaken Study Period 2, 2014. Content is quoted and/or summarised from the university website in fair dealing for purpose of research or study. See also: StudyWISE and AIMS.

Utilitarianism

This week, we consider Utilitarianism, a system of normative ethics first articulated by Bentham (pictured), Sidgwick and Mill. Utiltiarianism is a cconsequentialist theory, according to which the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined solely by reference to the goodness or badness of its consequences. It is contrasted with the deontological grounding of ethics we saw in Kant last week.

Links

Herewith a list of further reading:

Lectures

Lecturer for section 2: Dr Mianna Lotz.

• Lecture 15
• Lecture 16

Notes

• Week 8: Lecture 15 (original)
• Week 8: Lecture 16 (original)

Questions

• Reading questions for week 8 (original)

Readings

Readings downloaded from e-Reserve.

• Le Guin, Ursula K. "The ones who walk away from Omelas" in The Wind's Twelve Quarters, Le Guin, Ursula K., 1989, 275-284 (original)
• Bentham, Jeremy. "The principle of utility" in Ethics, Singer, Peter, 1994, 306-312 (original)
• Singer, Peter. "Equality and its implications (extract)" in Practical Ethics, Singer, Peter, 1993, 16-27 (original)
• Godwin, William. "The archbishop and the chambermaid" in Ethics, Singer, Peter, 1994, 312-313 (original)
• Sidgwick, Henry. "Issues for utilitarians" in Ethics, Singer, Peter, 1994, 313-317 (original)
• Williams, Bernard. "Negative responsibility: And two examples" in Utilitarianism: For and Against, Smart, J. J. C.; Williams, Bernard, 1973, 93-118 (original)
• Hare, R. M. "The structure of ethics and morals (extract)" in Ethics, Singer, Peter, 1994, 330-331 (original)

Answers

TODO: answer the reading questions.

Activities

• Self Test Quiz - Week 08 Utilitarianism
• Discussion forum for Week 8: Utilitarianism
• Week 8 review: What have you learnt? (original)

Work

TODO

Things to do, most important on top:

• Listen to the Lectures
• Read the Lecture notes
• Read the Questions
• Read the Readings
• Answer the Questions
• Do the Activities

Done

Things that are done, most recent on top:

Glossary

Herewith a list of new and/or interesting words and selected definitions: