Justice:What's the right thing to do? Episode 1

Moral Reasoning

• Consequentialist - locates morality in the consequences of an act.

The most influential example of consequential moral reasoning is utilitarianism, a doctrine invented by Jeremy Bentham, the eighteenth century English political philosopher.

• Categorical［绝对主义道德推理］ - locates morality in certain duties and rights.

Categotical moral reasoning locates morality in certain absolute moral requirements in certain categorical duties and rights regardless of the consequences. The most importantphilosopher of categorical moral reasoning is the eighteenth century German philosopher Immanuel Kant.

Bentham gave the first clear systematic expression to the utilitarian moral theory. His essential idea was: The right thing to do, the just thing to do, is to Maximize Utility.

By utility, he meant the balance of pleasure and pain, happiness over suffering.

Here is how he arrived at the principle of maximizing utility. He started out by observing that all human beings are governed by two sovereign masters - pain and pleasure. And we all like pleasure and dislike pain, so we should base morality (whether we are thinking of what to do in our own lives or whether as legislators or citizens, we are thinking about what the law should be) on maximizing the overall level of happiness.

Bentham’s utilitarianism is sometimes summed up with the slogan: The greatest good for the greatest number.

#MoralReasoning