NEW STUDIES IN ETHICS UTILITARIAN ETHICS New Studies in Ethics Edited by W. D. Hudson What is involved in judging_ a person to be moral or immoral, or in calling an action right or wrong? What makes a man good or an action our duty? Such questions as these, which concern the nature and content of morality, have been discussed by philoso­ phers from earliest times and are still live issues today. Many different types of ethical theory have emerged. New Studies in Ethics meets the need for an up-to-date examination of the main types. This series of monographs covers the whole range of ethical theory from Greek philosophers to the latest develop­ ments in contemporary moral philosophy. Each study is complete in itself and the whole series provides a unique treatment of the main philosophical problems in ethics. A distinguished team of philosophers, drawn from universities in Great Britain, the U.S.A. and Australia, was invited to prepare these studies. They have provided a series of monographs which will prove indispensable to university students of Moral Philo­ sophy, and will interest any intelligent reader. The Series H. B. Acton Kant's Moral Philosophy J. N. Findlay Axiological Ethics Antony Flew Evolutionary Ethics PamelaHuby Greek Ethics W.D.Hudson Ethical Intuitionism Eugene Kamenka Marxism and Ethics J. kemp Ethical Naturalism D. J. O'Connor Aquinas and Natural Law Anthony Quinton Utilitarian Ethics W. H. Walsh Hegelian Ethics, G. J. Warnock Existentialist Ethics Mary Warnock Contemporary Moral Philosophy Utilitarian Ethics ANTHONY QUINTON Fellow of New College, Oxford Palgrave Macmillan © Anthony Quinton 1973 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. First published 1973 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in New York Dublin Melbourne Johannesburg and Madras SBN 333 03740 5 ISBN 978-0-333-03740-9 ISBN 978-1-349-00248-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00248-1 To JOANNA and EDWARD The paperback edition of this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. CONTENTS Editor's Foreword vi Preface vii INTRODUCTION I (i) Definition of utilitarianism I (ii) Egoism, motivation and the harmony of interests 5 I. THE PRECURSORS OF UTILITARIANISM II (i) Ethics before utilitarianism II (ii) Utilitarianism emerges 15 (iii) Hume 17 (iv) Theological utilitarianism 23 II. JEREMY BENTHAM 27 III. JOHN STUART MILL 38 (i) Introductory 38 (ii) The removal of misunderstandings 39 (iii) The sanctions of morality 54 (iv) The proof of the principle of utility 58 (v) Justice and utility 71 IV. FOUR CRITICS 82 (i) John Grote 83 (ii) Henry Sidgwick 87 (iii) F. H. Bradley 93 (iv) G. E. Moore 98 v. EPILOGUE: CONTEMPORARY UTILITARIANISM xo6 Notes III Bibliography II5 EDITOR'S FOREWORD Most people nowadays who concern themselves with moral issues would probably count themselves utilitarians. That is to say, they would consider that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by the happiness or misery in which it results for those affected by it. This point of view has a long history and it provides the subject-matter for lively controversy amongst moral philosophers at the present time. In this monograph Mr Quinton, with characteristic clarity and skill, introduces us to the main exponents of utilitarianism, showing how their views have been, or ought to be, critically assessed. He ranges from the issues between Bentham and Mill to the contemporary controversy about act and rule utilitarianism. His book will prove an essential addition to the library of any student of moral philosophy. University of Exeter W. D. HUDSON PREFACE This exposition of utilitarian ethics, like comparable monographs in this series, is set out in a historical way. I have taken the paradigm of utilitarianism to be the ethical doctrines of Bentham and John Stuart Mill and, more specifically, I have treated as a utilitarian anyone who agrees with them that the rightness of actions is determined by the value of their consequences and that what determines the value of these consequences is the pleasure or pain that they include. I argue, by reference to this standard, that Hume is more of a utilitarian than he is nowadays often made out to be. The same standard implies that 'ideal utilitarians' like Moore and Rashdall, who, although consequentialists, do not take pleasure or happiness as the criterion of value, are not really utilitarians at all. The examination, criticism and, where appropriate, defence from criticism of the arguments and conclusions of Bentham and Mill has left space for no more than the barest survey of those aspects of utilitarian reasoning which most preoccupy ethical theorists at the present time, namely the structure and adequacy of consequentialist arguments in moral thinking. This is intentional and reflects my belief that the hedonistic aspect of traditional utilitarianism, its most widely repudiated ingredient, is equally deserving of consideration. New College, Oxford ANTHONY QUINTON .