CHAPTER 5 Consequentialist Theories: Maximize the Good
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Ethical Egoism
A. Two Forms of Ethical Egoism
1. Act-Egoism
2. Rule-Egoism
B. Applying the Theory
C. Evaluating the Theory
1. Psychological Egoism and Its Critics
2. Inconsistency with Considered Moral Judgments and Our Moral Experiences
II. Utilitarianism
A. The Principle of Utility
B. Two Forms of Utilitarianism
1. Act-Utilitarianism
2. Rule-Utilitarianism
C. Applying the Theory
D. Evaluating the Theory
1. Problems with Justice
2. Problems with Rights and Obligations to Others
3. Problems with Usefulness
III. Learning from Utilitarianism
IV. Social Contract Theory
A. Hobbes’s Theory
B. Evaluating the Theory
1. A true ethical egoist chooses actions that
a. are exceptionally altruistic.
b. lead him to self-indulgent or reckless behavior.
c. provide him with whatever he wants.
d. promote his own self-interests.
2. The philosopher who said that the greatest good is pleasure, and the greatest evil is pain, was
a. Kant. c. Aquinas.
b. Epicurus. d. Socrates.
3. Joel Feinberg argues that someone who directly pursues happiness
a. will find it faster than others. c. is unlikely to find it.
b. is insincere. d. is unlikely to pursue anything.
4. Ethical egoism seems to conflict with
a. psychological egoism.
b. our considered moral judgments and our moral experience.
c. our considered moral judgments and our self-interest.
d. our moral experience and self-indulgence.
5. Suppose for someone there are only two possible actions: (1) read Aristotle, or (2) spend a
weekend on a tropical isle filled with intensely pleasurable debauchery. Under these
circumstances, John Stuart Mill would likely
a. spend a week in intensely pleasurable debauchery.
b. refrain from making such a choice.
c. combine reading Aristotle with debauchery.
d. read Aristotle.
6. If, according to Jeremy Bentham, only the total quantity of happiness produced by an action matters, then the person closest to the
moral ideal would be
a. the self-denying monk. c. the academic scholar.
b. the glutton. d. a disciplined soldier.
7. John Stuart Mill says, “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better
to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.” This sentiment is an indictment of the glutton
but also a pat on the back for those who
a. make no distinction between higher and lower pleasures.
b. avoid all pleasures.
c. enjoy higher pleasures.
d. achieve the greatest quantity of pleasure.
8. John Stuart Mill says that humans by nature desire happiness and nothing but happiness;
therefore happiness is the standard by which we should judge human conduct, and therefore
the principle of utility is at the heart of morality. But this argument is controversial, because
a. it reasons from what is to what should be.
b. it equivocates on the word “happiness.”
c. it is internally inconsistent.
d. Mill failed to defend his theory.
9. Consider a scenario involving the possible killing of an innocent person for the good of others.
Such an action could conceivably be sanctioned by
a. Kant’s theory. c. the means-end principle.
b. natural law theory. d. act-utilitarianism.
10. Some utilitarians respond to the charge that act-utilitarianism conflicts with commonsense
moral intuitions by
a. switching to natural law theory.
b. rejecting commonsense morality.
c. denying that act-utilitarianism is a true moral theory.
d. rejecting rule-utilitarianism.
11. Suppose a utilitarian judge decides to rule against a plaintiff in a lawsuit just because people
in general would be happier if the plaintiff lost the case. Such a utilitarian move would
conflict with
a. rule-utilitarianism. c. divine command theory.
b. commonsense views about happiness. d. commonsense views about justice.
12. Suppose you break your promise to visit your dying grandmother on the grounds that you can
create more happiness by partying with your friends. This utilitarian view of the situation
seems to conflict with our commonsense
a. view of justice. c. view of our obligations to other people.
b. view of rights. d. notion of utilitarian morality.
13. Defenders of act-utilitarianism insist that the scenarios put forth by critics that seem to show utilitarianism in conflict with
commonsense morality are
a. misleading and implausible. c. too realistic.
b. likely to occur at least some of the time. d. common but inconsequential.
14. Utilitarianism (in all its forms) requires that in our actions we always try to maximize utility,
everyone considered. This requirement has given rise to
a. ethical egoism. c. the maximization problem.
b. the no-rest problem. d. the Golden Rule problem.
15. Commonsense morality makes a distinction between doing our duty and doing more than
duty requires, what are called supererogatory actions. This distinction seems to disappear in
a. ethical egoism. c. utilitarianism.
b. social contract theory. d. Kant’s theory.
16. Rule-utilitarianism has been accused of being internally inconsistent because the theory can
a. easily lapse back into act-utilitarianism. c. always fall back on rigid rules.
b. be defended through act-utilitarianism. d. never be understood.
17. Utilitarianism reminds us that
a. the consequences of our actions do not matter most of the time.
b. not everyone counts equally in moral deliberations.
c. some absolutist rules are necessary.
d. the consequences of our actions make a difference in our moral deliberations.
18. The philosopher Thomas Hobbes says that people are naturally
a. greedy, selfish, violent, self-destructive, and desperate.
b. compassionate, generous, and considerate.
c. eager to believe in a religious doctrine.
d. lazy and unambitious.
19. Because people will renege on deals they enter, Hobbes believes that what is needed for
enforcing the social contract is an absolute sovereign—a fearsome, powerful person he
refers to as the
a. Divine Father. c. Leviathan.
b. Utility Monster. d. categorical imperative.
20. One of the criticisms of social contract theory is that it’s doubtful that those who are supposed
to be parties to the contract have actually given
a. due attention to morality.
b. any thought to whether Hobbes was correct.
c. any consideration to those who are not party to the contract.
d. their consent to the terms of the contract.
21. Some critics of social contract theory argue that few people have ever actually consented to
the terms of a social contract. Some defenders of social contract theory reply that people are
much more likely to have given their
a. verbal consent. c. fictional consent.
b. implicit consent. d. refusal to consent.
TRUE/FALSE
1. Rule-egoism says that to determine the right action you must apply the egoistic principle to
individual acts.
2. Psychological egoism is a moral theory.
3. Utilitarianism is a moral theory for promoting human welfare.
4. When act- and rule-utilitarianism are applied to the same moral issue, they may yield different answers.
5. According to social contract theory, morality comprises the social rules that are in everyone’s
best interests to heed.
6. One of the concerns raised by critics of social contract theory is that vulnerable individuals,
such as the severely disabled, the very poor, nonhuman animals, children, and infants, have no
moral status and no rights according to the theory.
SHORT ANSWER
1. The ethical theory that says that the right action is the one that advances one’s own best interests is called ________.
2. To the classic utilitarian, ________ is the only intrinsic good.
3. John Stuart Mill called the utilitarian principle, by which all actions can be judged, the
________ principle.
4. The doctrine that says that morality arises from an agreement that self-interested and
rational people abide by in order to secure a degree of peace, prosperity, and safety is
called ________.
5. According to Hobbes, when there is a breakdown in the real world of the forces that preserve
law and order, such as times of revolution, war, natural disaster, famine, and civil unrest, the
human race returns to the ________, which is horrifying and gruesome.
6. ________, an influential social contract theorist, attempted to determine what moral principles
a society would accept if they were arrived at through a hypothetical give-and-take that was
as fair and impartial as possible.