1.4: Consequentialist Ethics and Bentham's Utilitarianism
Watch the rest of this lecture, starting at 24:13. This lecture introduces Jeremy Bentham's utilitarian moral principle. Through the case of the shipwrecked crew, Sandel demonstrates that, far from abstract puzzles, moral dilemmas are real life problems, which demand that we strive toward coherent moral codes that can be agreed upon for social and legal purposes.
1.4.1: The Lifeboat Case: A Moral Dilemma Drawn from Life
Read this description of the famous Queen v. Dudley and Stephens case. As you read, consider whether you agree with the ruling in this case, and if you would rule differently, as well as why you would do so. This text discusses the famous lifeboat case, which established the legality of choosing to murder out of necessity. Although the details of the case are quite graphic, this fact itself may serve as a prompt for many of us to revise our initial intuitions about the moral status of killing one to save many others.
1.4.2: Overview of Utilitarianism
Read this introduction to Utilitarianism and John Stuart Mill.
Read the first chapter, "Of the Principle of Utility," from this 1780 text in which Bentham justifies the principle that the morality of our actions depends on the consequences produced. The late eighteenth and early nineteenth century English philosopher Jeremy Bentham was the first to formalize the moral principle that whether our actions are right or wrong is a matter of the consequences they produce (i.e. how much happiness and how much unhappiness results from them). It is important to note that, although Bentham places a lot of emphasis on the pleasure and pain experienced by the individual person, he is not recommending that our laws should be guided purely by individual hedonism, but by a collective responsibility to improve the happiness of everyone in society.
1.4.3: Criticisms of Bentham's Utilitarianism
Watch this lecture until 24:11. Here, Sandel introduces some important objections to Bentham's version of utilitarianism. If Bentham is right about utility being measurable, and even quantifiable, then this would seem to justify the practices of some governments and corporations in taking a dollars and cents approach to human life, which strikes many people as being in itself unethical.