Main Points
- Seek the most good for the most people
- Happiness = pleasure (kinda hedonistic in that sense)
- everything we do is derived from things we want. The things we want are the things that make us happy. The things that make us happy are the things that give us pleasure.
- What is ethical is the thing that brings the most people pleasure (or reduces the most amount of pain)
- sometimes, the thing that brings the most people happiness is the thing that brings you pain → e.g imagine the ‘heroes sacrifice’
- The end is more important than the journey → (results are what matters, not the intentions)
- You have to make the position of the ‘benevolent, disinterested’ spectator
- You will always have a bias
- think about it if you are talking to a bunch of strangers that you’ll never see again and what advice you’d give
Other niche thoughts
Being a bystander is an L Don’t think of things as possibly providing you pain but bringing people pleasure.
pain is pain irregardless of the person:
- thought experiment. killing an innocent person to acquire the organs to save many patients needing an organ transplant. → You save more people.
Utiliritianism is a very demanding theory
Kantian Ethics
No ethic theory should demand the loss of human life
To determine what is right, you have to use reason.
hypothetical imperatives: If X thing, then Y thing that appears compulsory
- if you want a job, you must study hard → something that seems true but you don’t have to follow it.
**Categorical imperatives;
- commands you must follow, regardless of desire
- moral obligations
- only do what you would allow everyone else to do (any would not result in stripping away other ppls rationality)
What is right and wrong is nullable if you use your thoughts.
Act only according to that maxim (a rule):
- if you agree with an action, then that means that everyone should be okay to do that. No rule should result in a contradition
- e.g if you think you can steal, that means everyone can steal.
But this also means that you can’t do bad things for a good cause:
- e.g steal medicine for a sick person, speed to save someones live, lie to save someones life
People are not objects → not things to be used by others
Categorical imperatives:
- killing bad
- lying bad
uhh- if u have low iq, u get diffed and can’t be a good person :skull:
Thought Experiments
- 20 people are put at gun point and are about to get shot down with no chance of escape. A random person is taken and told that if they shoot and kill one of the people, the other 19 are allowed to live but if they dont, all 20 will die. Utilitarianism state that the person should always shoot the guy, even if it means getting blood on their hands.
Types of utilitarianism
Rule Utilitarianism
“Act utilitarianism judges the morality of an action based solely on the consequences of that individual action, while rule utilitarianism judges an action based on whether it follows a rule that, if generally followed, would produce the greatest good for the most people”