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Single Idea 6218
[filed under theme 23. Ethics / E. Utilitarianism / 1. Utilitarianism
]
Full Idea
The happiness of each person cannot be separated from the happiness of all, because the whole is no different from the parts taken together.
Gist of Idea
The happiness of individuals is linked to the happiness of everyone (which is individuals taken together)
Source
Richard Cumberland (De Legibus Naturae [1672], Ch.I.VI)
Book Ref
'British Moralists 1650-1800 Vol. 1', ed/tr. Raphael,D.D. [Hackett 1991], p.86
A Reaction
Sounds suspiciously like the fallacy of composition (Idea 6219). An objection to utilitarianism is its assumption that a group of people have a 'total happiness' that is different from their individual states. Still, Cumberland is on to utilitarianism.
Related Idea
Idea 6219
The fallacy of composition is the assumption that what is true of the parts is true of the whole [Mautner]
The
37 ideas
with the same theme
[belief that good is maximising happiness]:
6218
|
The happiness of individuals is linked to the happiness of everyone (which is individuals taken together)
[Cumberland]
|
6220
|
The happiness of all contains the happiness of each, and promotes it
[Cumberland]
|
6245
|
That action is best, which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest number
[Hutcheson]
|
3928
|
Virtue just requires careful calculation and a preference for the greater happiness
[Hume]
|
7214
|
Ethics rests on utility, which is the permanent progressive interests of people
[Mill]
|
7202
|
The English believe in the task of annihilating evil for the victory of good
[Nietzsche on Mill]
|
5935
|
Mill's qualities of pleasure is an admission that there are other good states of mind than pleasure
[Ross on Mill]
|
3764
|
Actions are right if they promote pleasure, wrong if they promote pain
[Mill]
|
3776
|
Utilitarianism only works if everybody has a totally equal right to happiness
[Mill]
|
4129
|
It is self-evident (from the point of view of the Universe) that no individual has more importance than another
[Sidgwick]
|
24106
|
Talk of 'utility' presupposes that what is useful to people has been defined
[Nietzsche]
|
14811
|
In Homer it is the contemptible person, not the harmful person, who is bad
[Nietzsche]
|
9258
|
If pain were instrinsically wrong, it would be immoral to inflict it on ourselves
[Prichard]
|
5907
|
Relationships imply duties to people, not merely the obligation to benefit them
[Ross on Moore,GE]
|
5912
|
We should use money to pay debts before giving to charity
[Ross]
|
22405
|
Negative utilitarianism implies that the world should be destroyed, to avoid future misery
[Smart]
|
22463
|
Morality is seen as tacit legislation by the community
[Foot]
|
4010
|
In later utilitarianism the modern stress on freedom leads to the rejection of paternalism
[Taylor,C]
|
22407
|
Utilitarianism cannot make any serious sense of integrity
[Williams,B]
|
23278
|
For utilitarians states of affairs are what have value, not matter who produced them
[Williams,B]
|
3279
|
Utilitarianism inappropriately scales up the individual willingness to make sacrifices
[Rawls, by Nagel]
|
8038
|
Since Moore thinks the right action produces the most good, he is a utilitarian
[MacIntyre]
|
3782
|
Satisfaction of desires is not at all the same as achieving happiness
[Glover, by PG]
|
9762
|
We should focus less on subjects of experience, and more on the experiences themselves
[Parfit]
|
18624
|
Utilitarianism is not a decision-procedure; choice of the best procedure is an open question
[Kymlicka]
|
18626
|
One view says start with equality, and infer equal weight to interests, and hence maximum utility
[Kymlicka]
|
18627
|
A second view says start with maximising the good, implying aggregation, and hence equality
[Kymlicka]
|
3542
|
We should do good when necessary, not maximise it
[Annas]
|
4280
|
Utilitarianism is wrong precisely because it can't distinguish animals from people
[Scruton]
|
4282
|
Morality is not a sort of calculation, it is what sets the limits to when calculation is appropriate
[Scruton]
|
4281
|
Utilitarianism says we can't blame Stalin yet, but such a theory is a sick joke
[Scruton]
|
4287
|
Utilitarianism merely guides us (by means of sympathy) when the moral law is silent
[Scruton]
|
4328
|
Preference utilitarianism aims to be completely value-free, or empirical
[Hursthouse]
|
4343
|
We are torn between utilitarian and deontological views of lying, depending on the examples
[Hursthouse]
|
4338
|
Deontologists usually accuse utilitarians of oversimplifying hard cases
[Hursthouse]
|
20583
|
If maximising pleasure needs measurement, so does fulfilling desires
[Tuckness/Wolf]
|
20584
|
Desire satisfaction as the ideal is confused, because we desire what we judge to be good
[Tuckness/Wolf]
|