I argue that apparent instances of being on a par are in fact instances of vagueness or complexity and do not threaten the truth of the trichotomy thesis. The fifth chapter is a defense of the thesis that there are exactly three relations of quantitative comparison from a recent attack. These structures include the presence of a unique order the possibility of equal intervals and a natural, non-arbitrary zero point. I argue that quantities are determinate properties whose determinables enter into greater-than, less-than, or equal-to relationships that are homomorphic with the structure of the real number line. The third and fourth chapters concern the nature of quantitative phenomena. The second chapter explores the nature of hedonic phenomena, arguing that pleasure and pain are propositional attitudes they are not feelings or feeling-tones, nor are they fundamentally a matter of desire or motivation. The first chapter is an introduction to the problem-in it, I explain what the hedonic calculus is, why it is important, and why it has recently come under disfavor. These operations are ones that utilitarianism and related normative ethical theories treat as central to moral phenomena. The hedonic calculus presupposes that pleasure and pain come in amounts amenable to addition, subtraction, and aggregation operations. read more.The topic of my dissertation is the hedonic calculus. ( I know you said the first paragraph is not relevant, but I could not think of anything else to put in its place so I kept it in for the word count ï ). To work out which one to save using the Hedonic Calculus would take much longer than a few seconds therefore this is why I believe it is a very impractical way of calculating pain and pleasure. For example, you need to make the decision as to whether you should save a mother and her baby from being hit by a bus on a zebra crossing or a man in his twenties on a bike cycling the opposite way. Overall, I believe that the Hedonic Calculus is very impractical and time consuming as time is needed to calculate the figures which will then help you to make a decision. I think that the Hedonic Calculus can help individuals to choose which is the right and which is the wrong thing to do as it ultimately calculates how pleasurable the consequence of an action is by measuring the above seven aspects.read more.īecause of this, I do not think the Hedonic Calculus can be used effectively in everyday life to determine which option is best, when it is solely based on the amount of pleasure or pain a situation or choice will result in. Bentham believed that any action which increases pleasure is right, and one that increases pain is wrong, so consequently, by using the Hedonic Calculus to make moral decisions we can guarantee that the decision made is always going to increase pleasure as it has been calculated correctly through the Hedonic Calculus. In the case of bullying for example, the Hedonic Calculus would measure how intense it is and how long it is possible for it to last etc which would then help a person to come to the decision of either helping the victim by talking to the bully or telling their parents or a teacher. The seven steps of the Hedonic Calculus include duration, intensity, certainty or uncertainty, remoteness, fecundity, purity, and lastly extent. Therefore a decision can only be moral when it is bringing pleasure or happiness to the greatest amount of people and the Hedonic Calculus enables this. A moral decision cannot be made using the Hedonic Calculus when this cannot be done as I think people could find that they are making the wrong decision or a decision that, when not using the calculus, they would not agree with as some people may decide differently based on how high they believe the pleasure is.read more. John Stuart Mill believed pleasure should be measured qualitatively, where the focus is upon value and nature, and so in his theory of utilitarianism he did distinguish between higher and lower pleasures. The Hedonic Calculus results in either a majority of pleasure or a majority of pain therefore we cannot distinguish between what is a higher pleasure and what is a lower pleasure, or give them an order of importance ? it is said to be worth the same amount when using the Hedonic Calculus. The Hedonic Calculus is a scientific formula created to measure pleasure it is used to weigh up the amount of pain and pleasure that is generated by different moral actions to find the best option. Sophie Dunhill ?Explain how moral decisions should be made using the Hedonic Calculus?.
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