Ethics

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The Philosophy of Utilitarianism

Module 10 The Philosophy of Utilitarianism,

Justice and Fairness, and Pluralism versus
Fundamentalism

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Describe the core of this 18th Century Philosophy
2. Differentiate the beliefs of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill
3. Correlate Utilitarian philosophy in business
4. Define justice and social justice
5. Discuss the concept of Law and the State
6. Discern how society dispense justice
7. Differentiate the Pluralist and Fundamentalist Philosophies
8. Compare and Contrast Globalization and Pluralism
9. Define Filipino Millennial or Filinnials
10. Identify the role of religion in ethics

Utilitarianism
This philosophy is also known as Consequentialism that says the rightness or wrongness of
an object depends on the effect of the consequence regardless of the method it utilized. There are
two kinds of utilitarianism and they are Act utilitarian and Rule utilitarian, the first believed about
the goodness or badness of a particular act. An example is the assassination of former Indian
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 that was an act of murder by the civilized people but to the
perpetuators it was an act beneficial to the maligned Indian minority. Rule utilitarian means the
goodness or evilness of an act itself. Say abortion may be an evil act but Western civilization view
it as a means to combat population explosion. Morality is defined, simply as increasing good and
decreasing evil by eliminating traditions, taboos or archaic beliefs that obstruct human
development. These age-old beliefs put man in a “primitive” way of life that denied their right to
free-will and are a bane to human behavior. The proponents of this theory were Jeremy Bentham
and John Stuart Mill wherein the first thought about this idea and later shared to his pupil which
the latter propagated for humanity albeit with his own interpretation. Despite being thinkers of
the 18th Century their ideas were utilized by the present generation but were doubted for its
absurdities. That even today the ideas of these scholars were unsure as to they tend to Act
Utilitarian or Rule Utilitarian. Their writings are ambiguous that they have no idea what utilitarian
act they subscribe.
The Philosophies of Bentham and Mill
Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832) proposed utilitarianism in this premises: 1) Human life is
greatly-affected by pleasure and pain; 2) consequences of actions are caused by pleasure and pain;
3) the idea of anything pleasurable is good and anything painful is evil is absolute; and 4) Pleasure
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and pain can be quantified. To sum it up, man’s happiness is quantified by either pleasure and pain
and nothing else. They can be measured according to the following criteria such as: intensity,
duration, certainty and nearness.
John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873) for his part clarified his professors’ stand by making his own
counterpoint: 1) the quality of happiness is more important than its quantity; 2) the quality of
happiness cannot be measured for these things are felt and no amount of calculation can quantify
it; 3) Mill believed in the idea of the “General Happiness of the People” that happiness can be felt
by everyone, in short common happiness.

Positive and Negative Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is famous for its maxim “Greater happiness for the greater number” and
believed in the premise that while man’s purpose in this world is to be happy, we must only think
more of happiness and neglect misery in our lives. Which brings us to Positive Utilitarianism
which adheres to the maxim mentioned, while is negative counterpart centers on its complete
contradiction “least misery for the least number of people”. It must be noted, though that both are
absurd because suffering is part of human existence that comes in great numbers that made a
considerable number of people suffering as well. Negative utilitarianism is also impractical if not
totally ludicrous because by experiencing misery we became emotionally stronger inasmuch as it
is triumph over adversity, life is not a bed of roses anyway. Positive Utilitarianism is also
preposterous for happiness may not be attained by everyone and anyone might not feel the same
way. For example, if we are happy inflicting pain to another being a sadist will the receiving party
feel pleasure? Certainly not unless he is a masochist.
Business Utilitarianism
As mentioned earlier, the rightness or wrongness of an action is based on the consequence
regardless of the method employed. We can also connect that to the common adage “the end
justifies the means” just as long as it benefits the society where one belongs. Conversely speaking,
any action is valid as long as it is for the “greater good for the greater number”. Now let us
correlate Utilitarianism to Business, four things have to be kept in mind:
1. Business depends upon the consequence of an action ergo consequentialism – as
mentioned the validity of the action is the consequence or the attainment of its ends.
This type of belief is considered bad because this is practically permitting the profiteers
of exercising avarice by jacking up price of commodities and at the same time using
substandard goods and services just as long as they attain of raking cash at the expense
of good business.
2. Business depends on welfarism – by welfarism we mean an act is valid if the society
where one belongs subscribed to that similar understanding. This is has positive effects
because it deals with the well-being of the society such as raising the salaries of the
workers that the State (unless they adhere to Command economy practiced by
Communists) approved.
3. Business is individualism – this centers on the happiness of the consumer while the first
two ideals are for the businessmen and the workers respectively. In this concept, the
businessmen will give quality goods and services at affordable prices devoid of profit
but merely public service.
4. Business is aggregation – by aggregation this means the rightness or wrongness of an
action is dependent in only on the average values of all the individual, egalitarian in the
real sense of the word. It simply means that happiness should be shared by all sectors of
business – the businessmen, workers, buyers and society.
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The Philosophy of Utilitarianism

What is Social Justice?

Plato in his writing “The Republic” dubbed social justice as Pantheism because he
compared justice or fairness as the universe in its entirety that is moved by an invisible source.
The universe has been here since time immemorial and no one can determine the age but why is it
that it never collided and still “in order”? He defined justice as universal, absolute and eternal. But
what is justice, Merriam and Webster defined it as, the maintenance or administration of what
is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited
rewards or punishments. So to correlate that with Plato’s “The Republic”, the components of
justice is harmony and unity. But that can never be attained if there is no State which is the very
purpose why the need for state, politics and law is a must in every society.
Social Justice only came in to being during the 19th Century in the Industrial Revolution to
be exact by European counties. The populace who were fed up by their monarchs demand justice
and fairness based on the premises of equality among men and to resolve capitalist exploitation.
This later expanded to issue such as rights of the poor, equal distribution of wealth, race, gender
and the likes. Aristotle, Plato’s most apt subordinate gave his own definition when he said, "equals
should be treated equally and unequals unequally” that means that individuals must be treated the
same but if necessity dictates there are exceptions. For example, John and Joanne are both
workers in the same factory and in the same position and are having the same compensation.
However, there are things may differ when it comes to age, sex, educational background or
religious belief.

State and Law

State is a community of persons more or less numerous permanently occupying a definite
territory having a government of their own to which a great body of inhabitants render habitual
obedience and enjoying freedom from external control. A State has the following elements namely:
1) People: Mass of population living within the state; 2) Territory: Land, maritime, aerial and
fluvial area over which jurisdiction exists; 3) Government: The agency through which the will of
the state is carried out; 4) Sovereignty: Supreme power of the state to enforce its will on the
people without foreign intervention and; 5) Recognition: the acceptance of a nation into the
Family of Nations.
A law is part and parcel of a state and is defined as any rule that if broken will mete
punishments to offenders. It is also defined as a body of rules made by the government interpreted
by the courts and backed by the power of the State. It is a legal order which refers to a specialized
phase of social control. Law is not only a means to a civilization but also a product of civilization
according to Roscoe Pound, the spokesman for the School of Social Jurisprudence. Law is
responsible for social engineering for it is a mechanism in reacting to changes in a society. laws
are susceptible to change and is not bound by traditions and legends and is created for the interest
of all members of society.
Government and Justice

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 1) Egalitarianism - Egalitarianism is a trend of thought in political philosophy. It favors
equality to everyone where people are treated the same as equals. Justice is given to
everyone regardless of race color or creed.
2) Communism - is simply based class dictatorship of the proletariat (the ruling party).
This type of governance was thought of by Karl Marx, where a society is dominated by
one class over the entire state. Socialism is the reciprocal of capitalism, where state
control of the economy is the nation’s priority.
3) Socialism - A political ideology that advocates for an equal redistribution of wealth and
power in society through a democratic ownership and distribution of society’s means of
production (or means of making money).

Pluralism versus Fundamentalism

Let us define Pluralism – it is the holding of two or more beliefs or concepts in a single
society. This is the prevailing idea that is introduced in the modern world to make this a better
place to live in. The Pluralist ideology fell on the following premises: 1) Pluralism is engagement
with diversity. This means that the walls that divide people due to religious beliefs shall be
removed, at present religious diversity is present but devoid of religious pluralism. That is in
certain countries religious ghettoes allow religious minorities to exist in their fold but is still
alienated due to their biases by the adherents of the dominant religion. 2) Pluralism is
understanding that transcends lines of differences. Many are mistaken that we have to learn the
entire religious doctrine of another only a portion is enough to at least build a bridge to connect
them. Absence of knowledge of another culture led to bias and alienation. 3) Pluralism is
encounter of commitments, this is simply to empathize to people of another religion. We should
not isolate ourselves from what we know but break borders. 4) Pluralism is based on dialogue –
talking is the most basic way of communicating, silence will bring us nowhere.
Fundamentalism is defined as a strict belief in the literal interpretation of the religious
tenet. Fundamentalists view of other religious beliefs are biased and contrary to their fundamental
beliefs are considered “heretic”. Their religious tenets adhere to the idea that morality is ebbing
due to modernization.
Globalization and Pluralism
In our ever-changing world, pluralism are political responses to different historical
challenges that they shape history that build bridges than Fundamentalism that create walls.
Policies geared religious pluralism center on religious toleration, rights for denominations, or
individual religious freedom. They believed that even if they subscribe to religious beliefs they
belong to One Faith and are unified by the philosophy of being one. Globalization since we are now
in the Digital Age, play a major role in achieving common understanding that Ecumenical Services
accepted people of “alien” religions to be at one thanks to the internet. With the continuing
development in telecommunications that will prove brighter in the years to come, will lead to
peaceful co-existence and even to ideological convergence. Then again, like a double-edged sword,
pluralism may also lead to social dissolution, since the awareness of fundamental differences
between religious world-views and might lead to misunderstanding and lead to religious wars.
One example is the Crusades that occurred in the Middle Ages between Muslims and Christians in
spite of the fact that Islam revered Christ as one of their prophets and the Muslim beliefs foster
humility and brotherhood akin to Christian traditions.
The Filipino Millennials aka Filinnials
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The Philosophy of Utilitarianism

Time Magazine, described millennials as people born from 1980 to 2000. This generation
comprise the largest age group in America and Asia. Their age group is called the “yuppie” age
(from the acronym YUP or Young Urban Professionals). In the Philippines, they are described as
the “selfie” generation and followers of social media no thanks to modern communication gadgets
such as mobile phones, laptops and tablets that seems they can never do without. A Filinnial
(short for Filipino millennials) are usually spendthrifts due to their propensity to spend money for
luxury goods which left their bank accounts “broke.” Another trait that unified most of them is
their narcissistic attitude, making them known as the “Me, Me, Me Generation.” They are so
conscious of what and how they look that selfies are a common thing. It must be noted though that
there are also good attitudes which millennials possess among them are their politically and social
astuteness. The social media opened their eyes that traditional media such as TV, movies, radio
and print are no longer the source of information. Compared to other generations, millennials
have their say about issues and are more involved with politics and are not squeamish about
revealing their opinions.
The Role of Religion in Ethics
Even in the current situation, many are still arguing about the role of religion in Ethics. Will
this age-old institution be the primary agent for the right ethics for they propagate the Word of
God? Most religions have an ethical component because ethics is yardstick for right conduct and
good life. A necessary component of making this a guide to temporal happiness. Is this the most
reliable conception of analyzing what is right from what is wrong? The central theme of ethics is
"the good life", the very reason we aspire for in this temporal world we live in that ancient Greeks
regarded as eudaimonia or happiness. The ancient Greeks believed happiness was brought about
by living one’s life in accordance with virtue – positive traits of character. Virtue is the source of
good character, that us integrated by good personal habits such as courage and temperance, but
also friendship and justice and intellectual virtue.

References and Supplementary Materials

Books and Journals
1. Babor, Eddie R.; Ethics – The Philosophical Discipline of Action; Manile, Rex Book
Store
2. Montemayor, Felix; Ethics the Philippines; Navotas Metro Manila; National Book Store

Online Supplementary Reading Materials

1. Act and Rule Utilitarianism; https://www.iep.utm.edu/util-a-r/;
2. Utilitarianism; http://caae.phil.cmu.edu/Cavalier/80130/part2/sect9.html; 2002
3. Positive and Negative Utilitarianism;
https://procrastinatoryponderings.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/positive-and-
negative-utilitarianism-two-absurd-versions-of-consequentialism/; March 28, 2013

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4. Applying Utilitarianism in Business;
https://www.academicwritersbureau.com/samples/219-applying-utilitarianism-in-
business; December 1, 2016
5. Social Justice; https://www.pachamama.org/social-justice/what-is-social-justice
6. Justice and Fairness; https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-
making/justice-and-fairness/; August 1, 2014
7. Definition of Justice; https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/justice
8. Egalitarianism; https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/egalitarianism/; April 24, 2013
9. Social Justice: Code for Communism; https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-communist-
government-1; August 4, 2016
10. What is Socialism Really? https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/what-is-socialism-
definition/
11. What is Pluralism; http://pluralism.org/what-is-pluralism/; 2006
12. What is Fundamentalism; https://www.gotquestions.org/fundamentalism.html
13. Modes of Religious Pluralism under Conditions of Globalization;
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-
sciences/resources/periodicals/diversities/past-issues/vol-1-no-1-1999/modes-of-
religious-pluralism-under-conditions-of-globalisation/#topPage; 1999
14. Millennials in the Philippines; http://primer.com.ph/blog/2016/06/27/millennials-
in-the-philippines-who-are-they-and-what-do-they-do/
15. Can we be ethical without being religious; http://www.ethicssage.com/2012/09/the-
role-of-ethics-in-religion.html; Sept. 4, 2012
16.