Utilitarianism vs. Kantian Ethics: A Philosophical Clash

Utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham is the founder of utilitarianism, or “the ethics of happiness.” When Bentham was a guest on my Almanac page, he outlined his moral science of hedonism. What is hedonism?

"The community is a fictitious body, composed of the individual persons who are considered as constituting as it were its members. The interests of the community then is, what? -- the sum of the interests of the several members who compose it."

- Jeremy Bentham (1748 -- 1832)

• Society is just the sum of individuals in that society.
• For individuals, right actions are those which lead to happiness and avoid pain.
• When it comes to “goods,” more is preferred to less. “Most is best” – this is the idea of maximization.
• Majority rule is the basis for group decisions. This is called “the greatest good for the greatest number.”

Utilitarianism is reflected in the Vulcan principle (from Star Trek) that “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few … or the one.” Spock’s quote is a very fine expression of utilitarianism because it makes a critical distinction between utilitarianism and egocentric behavior.

John Stuart Mill was also a utilitarian but saw the limits to Bentham’s raw and original approach to the doctrine.

“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied, than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.”

- John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873)

Who would you rather be? Utilitarianism is the favorite ethics of economics and business today. Why? This kind of ethics revolves around the decision and the act which follows the decision. It focuses on the consequence. It works well with numbers. If we are trying to choose between “good” and “better,” or between “bad” and “worse,” utilitarianism gives us conceptualizations which work side by side with analytical tools of economics and business.

Kantian Ethics

The classic foundational thinker regarding “the ethics of the person” was Immanuel Kant. Most philosophers simply identify “the ethics of the person” with Kant’s name.

• The Categorical Imperative, in particular, is the cornerstone of Kantian ethics.
• Kantian ethics focuses on “the Categorical Imperative,” a universal principle whereby our right actions would be the same as any other person’s right action, in the same situation.
• The borrower treats the lender as the borrower would like to be treated, as the lender.
• Ethical people treat others as “ends,” not “means.”

Kant is not the only thinker who worked out principles for “the ethics of the person.” Martin Buber is also a voice for the ethics of the person. Buber influenced Martin Luther King, Jr. Kant’s version of this kind of ethics is based on duty and rules. Buber’s version is founded on feeling. That is an interesting distinction to consider. Buber relies on feeling which is developed on the foundation of wisdom – not selfishness, or “what feels good at the moment.” Kant is also averse to behavior based on selfishness, or “what feels good at the moment.” Kant might say that even if you don’t “feel” like doing the ethical thing – “well, tough. It is your duty.”

Buber contrasts “I and thou” vs. “I and it.” This is a place where Buber’s ethics weighs in against the idea of treating others as means to a selfish end of our own. Instead, Buber finds we should consider others as ends, with their own space. Buber found dialogue as the bridge between each individual’s space. Buber’s picture of human beings as “conversations” is fresh and compelling. That is the basis for Buber’s view of what a community is. Buber’s idea of community could not be much more different than the concept of community put forward by Jeremy Bentham.

"Community...when it appears, shall satisfy not a concept but a situation. Realizing the idea of community, like the realization of any idea, does not exist once and for all...but always only as the moment's answer to a moment's question."

- Martin Buber (1878 -- 1965)

Kantian Ethics vs. Utilitarian Ethics

Should the U.S. have dropped the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in August 1945? Kantian ethics and utilitarianism take opposing views on this ethical dilemma.* This was what Audi calls a “difficult ethical decision.” That is what we will be working though in our next class.

* If you want to consider the dilemma of whether or not to drop the atomic bombs further, see my Almanac page the day that Jacob Bronowski (1908 – 1974) was my guest.