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9 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What was the main difference between Bentham and Mill's definition of pleasure? |
Bentham focused on the quantity of pleasure, whereas Mill focused on the quality of pleasure. |
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What are higher and lower pleasures? |
Higher pleasures are pleasures of the mind.
Lower pleasures are pleasures of the body.
Higher pleasures are better than lower pleasures. |
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Does Mill's theory show evidence of speciesism? If so, why? |
Mill believed that humans are more important than animals as we are able to access the higher levels of pleasure. |
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Is this theory strong or weak rule utilitarianism? |
Weak as there isn't one rule like Bentham's utilitarianism. It's more flexible. |
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What is a strength of having the system of higher and lower pleasures? |
It allows us to see the different levels of pleasure that could be created. This means that we can more accurately determine whether an action will be right or wrong. |
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What is a weakness of using pleasure as a measure of morality? |
It's difficult to measure as pleasure varies so much between people. At best we can only assume that an action will create more pleasure than pain. |
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Can an action be sure to create "the greatest happiness for the greatest number"? |
No, situations can often be unpredictable and though an action may be thought to be moral, it actually may not be. |
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What does Mill's theory still fail to resolve (from the weaknesses of Bentham's theory)? |
It still fails to defend the minorities - they will still always lose out. |
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What did Sedgwick say about Mill's thoughts? |
"In practice it is hard to distinguish between higher and lower pleasures" |
