What’s your moral code? Starting with this class, we’ll be wrestling with the question of what it takes to live a moral life. According to utilitarians, the key to acting morally is to do whatever will alleviate suffering and promote pleasure in the world. As a result, anything that can feel pain or pleasure deserves your moral consideration. And we might be called upon to make some significant sacrifices for the sake of a better world.
Note: If you are just joining the class, welcome! Please read the opening message in the “Announcements” section of Canvas and complete all tasks from the “Welcome to GGL” page as soon as possible.
Read This:
Interactive Essay: Utilitarianism (Book II) (John Stuart Mill)
Key Concepts:
- Consequentialism
- Greatest Happiness Principle
- Principle of Equal Consideration
- “Felicific Calculus”
Have questions or thoughts about the reading? Post them on PollEverywhere, and upvote any classmates’ responses that you’d like to cover in class. We’ll address the most upvoted responses during the Q&A part of class.
Watch This:
Do This:
- Register for How We Argue. (See Canvas announcement or “How We Argue” assignment page for more information.)
- Recommended: Complete lessons 1-6 of How We Argue by Sunday, Sep 22.
Pre-Class Questions
With each day’s reading, you will be given a set of questions to help you check your understanding of the material and prepare for class. Your responses are due on Canvas before class. See the syllabus for grading information. Your top 15 scores of the semester will count toward your final grade.
- In your own words, describe one significant difference between Aristotle’s moral theory and utilitarianism.
- Describe a scenario (real or imagined) where this difference would lead to different moral judgments or decisions, and explain why.
Living the Good Life
For each class topic, you’ll be given at least one prompt for a longer (~300 word) written reflection. You may write up to two reflections in the first half of the semester and up to two in the second half of the semester. You can also revise and resubmit one reflection for a new grade, within one week after your grade is posted. Your top three scores will count toward your final grade. Any “Living the Good Life” reflections addressing prompts from the Morality unit (“Learn to Live Well” through “Don’t Obsess About Morality”) are due on Canvas by 11:59pm on September 27.
At the end of the week, think back and identify the two actions of yours from the past week that a utilitarian would say produced the highest net utility and the two actions that a utilitarian would say produced the lowest net utility. Then, choose one of these four actions to analyze in more detail. List the action’s most significant consequences (direct or indirect), and try to quantify how much overall utility and disutility resulted from each consequence. Explain your reasoning.
