MGT340 - reading quiz chapter 2/part 1 - Utilitarianism Jeremy Bentham

How would a utilitarian view the ancient Roman custom of placing Christians in the coliseum with lions? A) As long as enough Romans gained sufficient pleasure from the spectacle of the lions eating the Christians, it didn't matter that the Christians suffered. B) Romans violated the individual rights of the Christians, using them against their will for their own pleasure. A utilitarian would see this as morally reprehensible. C) Utilitarians would argue that the value of killing Christians was significantly understated. Because the Romans were pagans, a Roman had much lower per person value than the Christian soul that had possessed salvation. D) The effects of this negative and morally problematic activity on society would far outweigh the benefits to Roman spectators. The utilitarian would have no problem rejecting this activity.

A

The reason to kill the cabin boy in the story of the Mignonette was: A) It was necessary to kill one person in order to save three B) the cabin boy was going to die anyway, they just sped the process up C) the cabin boy was the youngest and didn't have any family D) A utilitarian would say pick the person with the lowest rank on the ship

A

Why did Bentham believe rounding up street beggars and putting them in workhouses was a good idea? A) The sum of the pain of the public (pain of sympathy, pain of disgust) was greater than the unhappiness of the beggars in the workhouse. B) placing beggars in workhouses and putting them to work to help offset the cost of the room and board was a progressive idea far ahead of its time. C) The pain of the beggars in the workhouse was reduced because they would be fed inside where they wouldn't have to scavenge for food if they were outside on their own. D) The pain of sympathy and/or disgust of even one person was so great as to offset that of three or four beggars.

A

Of the three survivors of the Mignonette as described in the book "Justice", two were charged with capital murder. Which two were charged as a result of this incident? A) Thomas Dudley B) Edwin Stephens C) Edmund Brooks D) Richard Parker

A & B

In the story of the Mignonette, what were the two objections to killing the cabin boy? A) Isn't it just wrong to use a human being and taking his life without consent even if it benefits others? B) Killing is justified, but the way in which he was selected was incorrect. Lots should have been drawn and the person to be killed should be chosen by chance. C) wouldn't a utilitarian argue that the sailor, Edmund Brooks, should have been killed as he was much older than the cabin boy and had far fewer years to contribute to society? D) Did killing the boy outweigh the costs to society as a whole?

A & D

According to Bentham, the government and legislators should (pick two): A) add up all the benefits of any suggested policy and subtract all the costs, if the net effective is positive, it should be approved. B) keep their role in the economy as small as possible so as to not impact the utility (pleasure and pain) of the private sector. C) consider the cost-benefit of each possible action particularly as it impacts the taxes and revenues of the government D) add up all the potential costs of a legislative decision and if we have sufficient funds to cover it, the policy should be approved. E) maximize the happiness of the community as a whole

A & E

In the Justice article on Utilitarianism, Philip Morris and Ford Motor Company both completed a comprehensive costs-benefit analysis . What can you say about both of these company's analyzes? A) Both companies had completed flawed cost benefit analysis in that they ignored the time value of a life, particularly for ignoring the value of younger people. B) Both studies were flawed in their basic approach, they significantly overstated the proper cost for human life. C) They both came to a decision that ultimately saved money (increased utility), but that their decision shocked society with their disregard of basic human worth. D) The analyzes completed by both companies were correct and was approved by their CEO's but got voted down by their board of directors.

C

The life boat case illustrates two rival and different approaches to justice. What are the two rival approaches directly mentioned in the Sandel article? A) The consequences, to be morally right, must be equal or greater than the effort or utility put into the action. In other words, the ends justify the means, but only if the means don't cost more than the ends. B) Another approach to consider is the ends can justify the means. There are certain consequences which are justified as morally correct because of the respect we have for those ends. C)One of the approaches is that the morality of an action depends solely on the consequences it brings about. The ends justify the means. D) One of the approaches is that the consequences of an action are not all that we care about, We have certain duties and rights which command our respect independent of consequences. E) The two approaches are that the means and ends must be in balance and within the scope of acceptable human behavior AND that the good of the many can outweigh the cost of the few when this occurs.

C & D

Jeremy Bentham, the founder of Utilitarianism, states that the main idea of his philosophy is: A) to keep the utility of the decision as high as possible but never allowing others to assume a burden greater than they can bear. B) to keep people morally pure by measuring the innate human dignity of all consequences and actions. C) to balance pain and pleasure, and whenever possible, keep them in balance, both good and bad. D) to maximize utility. He wanted to have more pleasure than pain, more utility

D

A strict "Bentham-ite" ( a very devoted follower of Jeremy Bentham) would argue that torturing a terrorist that knows where a bomb is planted would only be justified if there were many many hundreds or even thousands of people to be killed.

false

Bentham argues that it is possible, and in fact necessary, to translate all pleasure and pain, all happiness (or unhappiness) into a single scale of value and that everyone's preferences must be counted equally.

true

Jeremy Bentham's version of Utilitarianism fails to respect the rights of the individual person.

true