Lecture 12 - Utilitarianism and its Critiques
recorded by: Yale University
published: Feb. 19, 2014, recorded: March 2011, views: 2339
released under terms of: Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives (CC-BY-ND)
See Also:
Download yalephil181s2011_gendler_lec12_01.mp4 (Video - generic video source 544.1 MB)
Download yalephil181s2011_gendler_lec12_01_640x360_h264.mp4 (Video 141.2 MB)
Download subtitles: TT/XML, RT, SRT
Related content
Report a problem or upload files
If you have found a problem with this lecture or would like to send us extra material, articles, exercises, etc., please use our ticket system to describe your request and upload the data.Enter your e-mail into the 'Cc' field, and we will keep you updated with your request's status.
Description
Professor Gendler begins with a general introduction to moral theories–what are they and what questions do they answer? Three different moral theories are briefly sketched: virtue theories, deontological theories, and consequentialist theories. Professor Gendler introduces at greater length a particular form of consequentialism—utilitarianism—put forward by John Stuart Mill. A dilemma is posed which appears to challenge Mill’s Greatest Happiness Principle: is it morally right for many to live happily at the cost of one person’s suffering? This dilemma is illustrated via a short story by Ursula Le Guin, and parallels are drawn between the story and various contemporary scenarios.
Link this page
Would you like to put a link to this lecture on your homepage?Go ahead! Copy the HTML snippet !
Reviews and comments:
Fascinating. Profesor Gendler has the quality of speaking about a rather deep subject which allows us, the listeners, to bcome excited when we have suddenly realized how logical a previously difficult concept has become.
Write your own review or comment: