Ethics and Utilitarianism in 18th and 19th Century Philosophy
Ethics (Hume 1711-1776)
For Hume, morality is based on feelings, making his ethics emotivist. Feelings determine morality, which is formed by a universal sentiment shared by everyone. This feeling of sympathy (the ability to be impressed by what happens to another) is common to all human beings. We can understand each other’s ideas because of the sympathy that makes us sensitive to the problems of others. This can also generate envy. The pleasant or unpleasant feelings produced by sympathy are the natural duties of people.
Universal Duties:
Actions that are driven by innate instinct, such as benevolence, sympathy, and compassion.
Artificial Duties:
Arise as a consequence of reflection, used as means to an end, such as justice, which is a duty. Happiness is an artificial duty satisfying natural feelings, making it moral.
Utilitarian Ethics:
Hume understands ethics from the perspective of the community, not from the perspective of individual wishes. The maximum good is possible for most people, but the individual should not be sacrificed to the community.
Policy:
The core of society is the family. Laws are considered utilitarian and are designed for use, taking into account the welfare of individuals forming the community.
Positivist:
Based on facts and not sensitive to the experience of ideals like benevolence and sympathy. This vision is based on an optimistic conception of human beings. Humans are capable of forming a society and justice by being sensitive and ordered by sympathy and benevolence.
Religion (Critique of Divine Metaphysics):
Hume criticizes the existence of God, though he doesn’t prove that God doesn’t exist. From experience, we cannot prove the existence of a unique God. Hume also questioned the cause-effect relationship. God could be an illusion in metaphysics. If religion helps society to function well, it is not bad.
Mill (1806-1873)
Mill’s philosophy is utilitarianism, influenced by Bentham (founder of the movement) and his father, among others.
Utilitarianism:
Utilitarianism arose during the industrial and scientific revolutions. Due to the serious social consequences, various solutions were sought, including utilitarianism, which advocated political and economic reform to achieve the minimum suffering possible. Utilitarianism is considered a positivist thought (originating in France) with the purpose of social reform, which implies a reform of knowledge. Society is to be valued for its intellectual formation.
Positive Stage:
The stage where scientific ideas replace metaphysical research. It is done empirically and involves a waiver of the transcendent. This occurred during industrialization.
Psychology (Politics):
According to Mill, the human mind is governed by certain laws of association, which can be changed. He proposed a new science, ethology: the study of human behavior. This implies knowing human behavior before a situation. Human behavior is not inconsistent with freedom but helps us correct inadequate behaviors.
Economic, Ethical, and Political:
The utilitarian movement advocates for the greatest good for the most people possible, thus minimizing pain and maximizing pleasure, although it is impossible to eliminate pain entirely. Bentham said utilitarianism should be at the service of societal reform. The basis of this reform was pleasure and the principle of utility. With this, there was a rule to determine what is fair and unfair in light of societal happiness. The significant number of individuals affected was considered; the right of an individual cannot override the community.
Critique:
To know what is good, we must engage criteria such as intensity, duration, certainty, and the number of people affected. Mill argues that happiness consists of pleasure and the absence of pain. He believes that the pleasures of intellect and imagination are superior. In addition to the amount of pain or pleasure, he also introduces quality.
Freedom:
Freedom is fundamental. People must be free to achieve maximum utilitarian education to calibrate ourselves. Economic laws of production cannot be changed, but those of distribution can, although they will depend on human selfishness. Justice could fix this.
Mill seeks a social environment of individual freedom without forgetting that the individual develops in a community. An individual’s freedom ends where another’s begins. The state can only act against individuals if they harm others. A political system must provide freedom of thought, religion, and expression so that everyone can make their own life. Regarding women, he argued that they must have equal rights with men and that discrimination against them must end (its origin is historical, not natural).