UTILITARIANISMCHRISTY EICHLIN

What is Utilitarianism?

Form of consequentialism

Right / wrong depends on resulting happiness

Created by English social reformers

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

Subordinate Rules

“Commonsense morality” :

Keeping promises

Refraining from cheating

Refraining from stealing

Obeying the law

Only break it if you must!

преступление, prestupleniye—

(n.) Rus. crime; stepping over [the line]

Utilitarianism & Dostoevsky

Popular philosophy in 1860s Russia

Western Europe 1862

Problematic to him as a Christian

Based solely on reason

Justified horrific crimes

“One death, and a thousand lives in exchange.”

—Raskolnikov

In Crime & Punishment

Applied in planning murder of Alyona Ivanovna

Conflicts with intuitive moral laws

Crime fails to create happiness

Stolen money and goods never redistributed

Raskolnikov’s conscience suffers

Works Cited

Colson, Chuck. "Crime and Punishment." Break Point. N.p., 23 Jan. 2009. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. <http://www.breakpoint.org/commentaries/

     1907-crime-and-punishment>."Crime and Punishment." Montclair State University. Montclair State

University, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. <http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~nielsenw/crime.html>.

Eggers, Whitney. "Philosophies in Crime and Punishment." Center Stage. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. <https://www.centerstage.org/crimeandpunishment/

     Digital-Dramaturgy/Philosophies-in-Crime-and-Punishment.aspx>."Utilitarianism." California State University Sacramento. California State      University, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. <http://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/      gaskilld/ethics/utilitarianism%20notes.htm>.