What is Consequentialism?
Consequentialism is concerned with the outcomes of a certain action. It does not assert that an action can be right or wrong in itself, but instead that actions should be judged according to the outcomes it produces. Consequentialism can also be said to be teleological. By stating this, it should be understood that consequentialism is concerned with the study of the probability of certain "ends". How these ends are reached are not of concern according to this ideology.
What is Utilitarianism?
There are quite a few ethical theories that follow along the lines of consequentialism. One we will focus much attention on is utilitarianism. Utilitarianism asserts that an action is ethical if it produces the greatest amount of good for the people. In other words, a moral action is one that maximizes utility.
According to utilitarianism, happiness is considered to be the only thing which is "good" in itself. But what are we to say happiness is? To answer this question, the greatest good for the greatest amount comes to mean the greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest amount. Consequently, utilitarianism becomes recognized as hedonism or an ethical theory stating that only what is pleasurable is good.
An interesting aspect of utilitarianism is that it attempts to quantify happiness. In order to do this, utilitarianism uses pleasure and pain as a measurement. For example, if two acts were morally weighed against each other where one act was known to cause a great number of people pain and suffering and the other act was known to cause a great number of people pleasure and happiness, the latter act would be said to be ethical regardless of what it might be. Therefore, an act which usually may be thought of as morally wrong (stealing, lying, killing) would be thought of as being ethical if it were known to produce the greatest good for the greatest amount of people.
Measuring the righteousness of certain actions according to utilitarianism is not always easy. It is difficult to say one action is more justifiable than another when the consequences of both actions cannot be calculated with exactness. Problems also occur when it is realized that two actions might produce the same consequences or ones which are only qualitatively different (i.e., one consequence gives people knowledge and another produces virtue).
Jeremy Bentham and Utilitarianism
One well known utilitarian is Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). An important development Bentham made was the felicific calculus (also referred to as the hedonic calculus). This calculus is to be used for measuring the utility (propensity to cause happiness/pleasure or suffering/pain) of a certain moral decision or action with respect to intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity (the probability that a pleasure will be followed by more pleasures or a pain by more pains), purity (the probability that pleasure will be followed by pains or pain by pleasures), and extent (the amount of people affected).
Making a moral decision based on the what amount pleasure or pain a certain action will cause to a certain amount of people is referred to specifically as act utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism does not take codes of morality into account. Instead, it seeks an ethical decision that brings about the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people independent of any already established moral rules.
John Stuart Mill and Utilitarianism
John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873), another famous utilitarian, helped develop what is known today as rule utilitarianism. This form of utilitarianism uses pre-established rules of morality which are known to cause the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people when making ethical decisions. Rule utilitarianism would probably not make use of Bentham’s felicific calculus.
Utilitarianism and Artificial Intelligence Research
Illinois State University alumni, Jason Heinrich, developed a flowchart based on Jeremy Bentham's felicific calculus. This flowchart will be essential for devising a future utilitarian moral personality for an artificial person. To view the flowcharts Heinrich created and read his explanations, click here.