Utilitarianism Chapter 8 Summary

Chapter 8 begins by talking about the classical version of the theory of Utilitarianism. This classical version was developed by three philosophers: Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and Henry Sidgwick. According to the author, "Classical Utilitarianism can be summed up in three propositions: (a) The morality of an action depends solely on the consequences of the action. (b) An action's consequences matter only insofar as they involve the greater or lesser happiness of individuals. (c) In the assessment of consequences, each individual's happiness gets "equal consideration." Through their efforts, this classical theory had influence on modern thinking. However, this theory is rejected by most moral philosophers today. Furthermore, the question of Utilitarianism always comes down do what is considered pleasure and if pleasure is all that matters. Moreover, the next part talked about Hedonism which is the belief that things that feel good are inherently good and things that feel bad are evil. This basic idea that good is good and bad is bad; has been widely rejected in modern culture.

This idea of consequence is one of the most central ideas in the theory. The author then provides examples of three arguments that attack the theory. The first example talked about whether you should bear false witness to stop more people from being killed. Additionally, the second example talked about whether it was right or wrong for the police to distribute illegally obtained photos of a woman because it brought more pleasure than harm. Lastly, the final example was about whether you should meet up with a friend or