资源描述：
《哈佛大学公开课Justice-What's_the_right_thing_ (24)》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在学术论文-天天文库。
1、Justice02PuttingaPriceTagonLife/HowtoMeasurePleasureLasttime,wearguedaboutthecaseofTheQueenv.Dudley&Stephens,thelifeboatcase,thecaseofcannibalismatsea.Andwiththeargumentsaboutthelifeboatinmind,theargumentsforandagainstwhatDudleyandStephensdidinmind,let'st
2、urnbacktothephilosophy,theutilitarianphilosophyofJeremyBentham.BenthamwasborninEnglandin1748.Attheageof12,hewenttoOxford.At15,hewenttolawschool.HewasadmittedtotheBaratage19butheneverpracticedlaw.Instead,hedevotedhislifetojurisprudenceandmoralphilosophy.La
3、sttime,webegantoconsiderBentham'sversionofutilitarianism.Themainideaissimplystatedandit'sthis:Thehighestprincipleofmorality,whetherpersonalorpoliticalmorality,istomaximizethegeneralwelfare,orthecollectivehappiness,ortheoverallbalanceofpleasureoverpain;ina
4、phrase,maximizeutility.Benthamarrivesatthisprinciplebythefollowinglineofreasoning:We'reallgovernedbypainandpleasure,theyareoursovereignmasters,andsoanymoralsystemhastotakeaccountofthem.Howbesttotakeaccount?Bymaximizing.Andthisleadstotheprincipleofthegreat
5、estgoodforthegreatestnumber.Whatexactlyshouldwemaximize?Benthamtellsushappiness,ormoreprecisely,utility-maximizingutilityasaprinciplenotonlyforindividualsbutalsoforcommunitiesandforlegislators."What,afterall,isacommunity?"Benthamasks.It'sthesumoftheindivi
6、dualswhocompriseit.Andthat'swhyindecidingthebestpolicy,indecidingwhatthelawshouldbe,indecidingwhat'sjust,citizensandlegislatorsshouldaskthemselvesthequestionifweaddupallofthebenefitsofthispolicyandsubtractallofthecosts,therightthingtodoistheonethatmaximiz
7、esthebalanceofhappinessoversuffering.That'swhatitmeanstomaximizeutility.Now,today,Iwanttoseewhetheryouagreeordisagreewithit,anditoftengoes,thisutilitarianlogic,underthenameofcost-benefitanalysis,whichisusedbycompaniesandbygovernmentsallthetime.Andwhatitin
8、volvesisplacingavalue,usuallyadollarvalue,tostandforutilityonthecostsandthebenefitsofvariousproposals.Justice02PuttingaPriceTagonLife/HowtoMeasurePleasure1Recently,intheCzechRepublic,therewasaproposaltoincreasetheex
