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Introduction to morality
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Jeremy Bentham was a British political reformist and philosopher. Bentham is best known for his moral philosophy and philosophy of law. While Bentham’s work was not heavily influential during his lifetime most historians agree his works published posthumously had a huge impact on western philosophy and law. Bentham lived from 1748 to 1832 and lived primarily on his wealthy fathers inheritance allowing him to focus on writing. Most of Bentham’s work was philosophy of law - his most famous work being An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation which focuses primarily on moral philosophy.
On January 1, 1879 Clarendon Press published An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. It was the most important piece of Bentham’s moral philosophy. In 1913, Elie Halévy author of History of the English People in the Nineteenth Century and historian wrote “there are three principal characteristics of which constitute the basis of Bentham’s moral and political philosophy: (i) the greatest happiness principle, (ii) the artificial identification of one’s interests with those of others and (iii) universal egoism” (page # of quote). Since this book most historians have used this three-part theory to divide An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. It begins with the greatest happiness principle where we see the birth of utilitarianism, then the artificial identification of one’s interests with those of others, and lastly Bentham introduces universal egoism.
The Merriam-Webster definition of universal is “done or experienced by everyone” This is the definition that will be used with this word when applied to egoism. The Merriam Webster definition for egoism is “a doctrine that individual self-intere...
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...English People in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Barnes, 1961. Print.
"Universal." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. .
"Egoism." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. .
"hedonism". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, n.d. Web. 19 November 2013.
Weijers, Daniel M. "Hedonism." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p., 10 Aug. 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Weijers, Daniel Michael. Hedonism and Happiness in Theory and Practice: A Thesis Submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy [in Philosophy]. New Zealand: Victoria University of Wellington, 2012. Print.
Hedonism is a theory of morality. There are several popular philosophers who support hedonism; some of whom offer their own interpretation of the theory. This paper will focus on the Epicurean view. Epicurus, a Greek philosophers born in 341 B.C., generated a significant measure of controversy amongst laymen and philosophical circles in regards to his view of the good life. Philosophers whom teachings predate Epicurus’ tended to focus on the question of “How can human beings live a good, morally sound, life?” Epicurus ruffled feathers and ultimately expanded the scope of philosophy by asking “What makes people happy?”
In chapter 2, Shafer-Landau proceeds to list the theories that attempt to disprove hedonism by highlight the shortcomings in its logic and hedonism's replies to these objections. The Argument from Autonomy, is one of strongest objections to hedonism listed. Shafer-Landau states that for a theory to pose a serious threat to hedonism, it needs to challenge the idea that happiness is the only thing of intrinsic value (34). Chapter 2 discuses four strong objections that have the potential and support to disprove hedonism. The Argument from Autonomy provides an abundance of strong information to support its claims.
As humans we are constantly in search of understanding the balance between what feels good and what is right. Humans try to take full advantage of experiencing pleasure to its fullest potential. Hedonism claims that pleasure is the highest and only source of essential significance. If the notion of hedonism is truthful, happiness is directly correlated with pleasure. Robert Nozick presented the philosophical world with his though experiment, “The Experience Machine” in order to dispute the existence and validity of hedonism. Nozick’s thought experiment poses the question of whether or not humans would plug into a machine which produces any desired experience. Nozick weakens the notion of hedonism through his thought experiment, claiming humans need more than just pleasure in their lives. Nozick discovers that humans would not hook up to this machine because they would not fully develop as a person and consider it a form of suicide.
Bentham's theory calls for "ultra-democracy", he believes that each individual has the right to decide what the public interests are. He insists that the interest of the community is nothing than the sum of the interests of several members who compose it. And to be able to understand any individual's interest, you should understand his preferences and the pleasure he seeks, which could be achieved through maximizing the preferences of the greater numbers. Bentham was objected to the "sinister interest" of the ruling elite, because he has a great believe that they were bound to pursue their own interest, which in turn the interest of the minority and could be conflicted to the rest of the society's interests. Therefore, the only remedy for this evil is to allow each person a share in choosing who will represent his or her interests in the parliament.
With any form of hedonism, one is committed to the concept that pleasure is the chief good. In an extremely generic form of hedonism, it seems as though the quality of sensual pleasure should be given no more weight than the quality of emotional pleasure and vice versa. Additionally, this sort of hedonism would hold that the acquisition of kinetic pleasures would increase overall pleasure to seemingly no end, a concept which Epicurus’ doctrine would reject. Even if we understand death to be a genuine ceasing to exist, we must conjecture that it is bad for a person to die in the sense that it terminates even the possibility to acquire more pleasure. Under this concept of hedonism, we must agree that a person who lives a pleasurable life for ...
Philosophy has been a field of study for centuries. Some philosophers have developed ways to determine what is ethical and what is not. This has led to several normative ethical theories describing how people are ought to live a moral life. Some of the most prominent of these theories have set the criteria for morality in very unique and peculiar ways. Two of which are the ethical egoistic theory and the utilitarian theory, each seeing morality in its own distinctive way. By comparing and contrasting the view these theories pose on morality and by analyze how each stands in some of the world’s most modern day issues, one can understand why utilitarianism is a
Ethical Egoism A rear assumption is that the needs and happiness of other people will always affect our moral ethics. If we accept this assumption, we think that our moral ethics balance our self-interest against that of others. It is true, that “What is morally right or wrong depends not only on how it makes us feel, but also how it affects others”. The idea that each person ought to pursue his or her own self-interest exclusively to do in his lifetime for others is known as Ethical Egoism.
The pain in which people are avoiding can be psychological/ emotional, or physical. Hedonism can be acknowledged in two ways; the way the constitution stresses it is the ‘pursuit of happiness’, but some people do not use this as a way to better themselves. It is meant to be used as a means to better one’s self and strive for excellence. Whereas people use this as a reason to use substances to alleviate pain and discomfort stemming from a physical sensation, or from
Jeremy Bentham was born on February 15th, 1748 in Houndsditch, London and died June 6th 1832. Bentham was a British theorist, jurist, and social activist. Bentham was the founder of modern utilitarianism. Bentham became a leading philosopher in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical who influenced the progress of well-being. He was an advocate to the people regarding economic liberty, freedom of expression, equal rights for women, decriminalization of homosexual activities, separation of church and state and right to divorce. He made an effort to abolish the death penalty, to abolish slavery and to abolish physical punishment that included children. In his early years he was an advocator for animal rights.
Jeremy Bentham is widely regarded as the father of utilitarianism. He was born in 1748 into a family of lawyers and was himself, training to join the profession. During this process however, he became disillusioned by the state British law was in and set out to reform the system into a perfect one based on the ‘Greatest Happiness Principle,’ ‘the idea that pleasurable consequences are what qualify an action as being morally good’. Bentham observed that we are all governed by pain and pleasure; we all naturally aim to seek pleasure and avoid pain. He then decided that the best moral principle for governing our lives is one which uses this, the ‘Greatest Happiness Principle.’ This is that the amount of overall happiness or unhappiness that is caused by an action should determine whether an action is right or wrong. He stated,
Hedonism is a way of life that is rooted in a person’s experiences or states of consciousness that can be pleasant or unpleasant. The ethical egoist would state that a person should maximize his or her pleasant states of consciousness in order to lead the best life. Act Utilitarian on the other hand would state that these enjoyable states of consciousness should be maximized by one’s actions for everyone in order to attain the most utility. On the surface, this appears to be a good way to live, however, as Nozick states through his example of the experience machine that living life as a hedonist can be detrimental. It is a hollow existence that will ultimately be unsatisfactory because of the lack of making real decisions and relationships which are important to living a fulfilling life.
In conclusion, it is apparent that universal ethical egoism has many arguments. Moreover, it is clear that this theory tends toward solipsism, a person's view that only he or she exists, and the omission of many of the deepest human values, such as love and deep friendship. In addition, it violates the principle of fairness and it prohibits altruistic behavior, which one would perceive as morally permissible.
The influence of the Classical Utilitarians has been profound — not only within moral philosophy, but within political philosophy and social policy. The question Bentham asked, “What use is it?” is a cornerstone of policy formation. It is a completely secular, forward-looking question
Happiness is not easy to define. A good life has one characteristic – happiness. Happiness can be defined as pleasure, joy, contentment and satisfaction. Understandings of how to be happy were changing throughout the history. Aristotle who lived in 4th century BC in Athens and Schopenhauer who is19th century philosopher from Germany have contrasting understanding of happiness. In this essay I will argue that Aristotle and Schopenhauer provide accounts of happiness that are useful to contemporary society. The reason for this is that happiness is universal and people’s ways to achieve it did not changed tremendously over times.
Morality as a whole tries to create a distinction between right and wrong, good and bad. Making decisions should arguably always be aimed towards good. Under the philosophical doctrine of Utilitarianism, philosophers like Bentham and Mill recognize that human kind should make their lives useful and good through bringing about happiness or pleasure. The idea of the “Greatest Happiness Principle was introduced by Bentham, who was a Utilitarian predecessor to Mill. According to Mill, human lives should abide by the “Greatest Happiness Principle.” This principle states that actions are good as they tend to promote happiness; and bad as they promote the reverse of happiness, therefore humans should make a conscious choice of action that will lead