Difference between revisions of "Timeline of utilitarianism"
From Timelines
(→Full timeline) |
|||
| Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
{| class="sortable wikitable" | {| class="sortable wikitable" | ||
| − | ! Year | + | ! Year !! Event type !! Details |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1725 | + | | 1725 |||| [[w:Francis Hutcheson (philosopher)|Francis Hutcheson]] first introduces a key utilitarian phrase in ''An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue'': "when choosing the most moral action, the amount of {{w|virtue}} in a particular action is proportionate to the number of people such brings happiness to".<ref>{{cite book|last=Hutcheson|first=Francis|title=Moral Philosophy from Montaigne to Kant|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-521-00304-9|editor-last=Schneewind|editor-first=J. B.|page=515|chapter=The Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue|orig-year=1725}}</ref> |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1731 | + | | 1731 || || {{w|John Gay}} publishes ''In Concerning the Fundamental Principle of Virtue or Morality''. Some would claim that he developed the first systematic theory of utilitarian ethics.<ref>Ashcraft, Richard (1991) John Locke: Critical Assessments (Critical assessments of leading political philosophers), Routledge, p. 691</ref> |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1751 | + | | 1751 || || {{w|David Hume}} publishes ''{{w|An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals}}''. |
|- | |- | ||
| 1785 || || || {{w|William Paley}} publishes ''The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy''. Schneewind (1977) would write that "utilitarianism first became widely known in England through the work of William Paley."<ref>{{cite book |last=Schneewind |first=J. B. |title=Sidgwick's Ethics and Victorian Moral Philosophy |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1977 |page=122 |isbn= 978-0-19-824552-0}}</ref> || | | 1785 || || || {{w|William Paley}} publishes ''The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy''. Schneewind (1977) would write that "utilitarianism first became widely known in England through the work of William Paley."<ref>{{cite book |last=Schneewind |first=J. B. |title=Sidgwick's Ethics and Victorian Moral Philosophy |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1977 |page=122 |isbn= 978-0-19-824552-0}}</ref> || | ||
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1789 | + | | 1789 || || {{w|Jeremy Bentham}} publishes ''{{w|An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation}}''. |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1861 | + | | 1861 || || {{w|John Stuart Mill}}'s book ''[[w:Utilitarianism (book)|Utilitarianism]]'' first appears as a series of three articles published in ''{{w|Fraser's Magazine}}''. It would be reprinted as a single book in 1863.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ethics: A Pluralistic Approach to Moral Theory|last=Hinman|first=Lawrence|publisher=Wadsworth|year=2012|isbn=978-1-133-05001-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=John Stuart|orig-year=1863|last=Mill|date=2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TnYZ4tO5640C&pg=PA33 |title=Utilitarianism - Ed. Heydt (Broadview Editions)|page=33|isbn=978-1-55111-501-6|publisher=Broadview Press |access-date=2019-07-28}}</ref> Stuart Mill acknowledges in a footnote that, though Jeremy Bentham believed "himself to be the first person who brought the word 'utilitarian' into use, he did not invent it. Rather, he adopted it from a passing expression" in [[w:John Galt (novelist)|John Galt]]'s 1821 novel ''{{w|Annals of the Parish}}''.<ref>[[John Stuart Mill|Mill, John Stuart]]. 1861. ''[[wikisource:Utilitarianism|Utilitarianism]]''. n1.</ref> |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1907 | + | | 1907 || || Hastings Rashdall publishes ''The Theory of Good and Evil''. The description of ideal utilitarianism is first used in this book. |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1912 | + | | 1912 || || {{w|G. E. Moore}} publishes ''Ethics''. |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1953 | + | | 1953 || || Urmson publishes an influential article arguing that Mill justified rules on utilitarian principles.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Urmson|first=J. O.|year=1953|title=The Interpretation of the Moral Philosophy of J. S. Mill|journal=Philosophical Quarterly|volume=3|issue=10|pages=33–39|doi=10.2307/2216697|jstor=2216697}}</ref> |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1958 | + | | 1958 || || The term "negative utilitarianism" was introduced by [[w:Ninian Smart|R. Ninian Smart]] in his reply to {{w|Karl Popper}}'s ''{{w|The Open Society and Its Enemies}}''. Smart also presents the most famous argument against negative utilitarianism:{{sfn|Arrhenius|Bykvist|1995|p=31}} that negative utilitarianism would entail that a ruler who is able to instantly and painlessly destroy the human race would have a duty to do so. Furthermore, every human being would have a moral responsibility to commit suicide, thereby preventing future suffering.{{sfn|Smart|1958|p=542}} |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1971 | + | | 1971 || || The objection that "utilitarianism does not take seriously the distinction between persons" comes to prominence with the publication of {{w|John Rawls}}' ''{{w|A Theory of Justice}}''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rawls|first=John|title=A Theory of Justice|date=2005|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-01772-6|page=27}}</ref> |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1971 | + | | 1971 || || John Rawls publishes his antiutilitarian book ''A Theory of Justice'', which rejects utilitarianism as an acceptable foundation for principles of justice.<ref name="Brooke">{{cite book |last1=Brooke |first1=David |title=Q&A Jurisprudence 2009-2010 |date=2 June 2009 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-24201-5 |url=https://books.google.com.ar/books?id=xcqOAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA107&lpg=PA107&dq=%22utilitarianism%22+%22in+1970..1979%22&ots=0bZw4gIfnG&sig=ACfU3U1q3LAkrjOku9CpIPN_-uleRvUrxg&hl=en#v=onepage&q=%22utilitarianism%22%20%22in%201970..1979%22&f=false |language=en}}</ref> |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1972 | + | | 1972 || || English philosopher Stuart Hampshire laments that utilitarianism is no longer the bold, innovative, and even subversive doctrine that it has once been.<ref name="Lazari-Radek">{{cite book |last1=Lazari-Radek |first1=Katarzyna de |last2=Singer |first2=Peter |title=Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction |date=2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-872879-5 |url=https://books.google.com.ar/books/about/Utilitarianism.html?id=HjsqDwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y |language=en}}</ref> |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1973 | + | | 1973 || || In ''Principles'', {{w|R. M. Hare}} accepts that {{w|rule utilitarianism}} collapses into {{w|act utilitarianism}} but claims that this is a result of allowing the rules to be "as specific and un-general as we please."<ref name="HareRM">{{cite journal|last=Hare|first=R. M.|author-link=R. M. Hare|date=1972–1973|title=The Presidential Address: Principles|journal=[[Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society]] |series=New Series|volume=73|pages=1–18|doi=10.1093/aristotelian/73.1.1|jstor=4544830}}</ref> He argues that one of the main reasons for introducing rule utilitarianism was to do justice to the general rules that people need for moral education and character development and he proposes that "a difference between act-utilitarianism and rule-utilitarianism can be introduced by limiting the specificity of the rules, i.e., by increasing their generality."<ref name="HareRM"/> |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1973 | + | | 1973 || || Addressing utilitarianism, Bernard Williams writes "the day cannot be too far off when we hear no more of it".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barrow |first1=Robin |title=Utilitarianism: A Contemporary Statement |date=3 June 2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-40654-9 |url=https://books.google.com.ar/books?id=PRXICQAAQBAJ&pg=PT13&lpg=PT13&dq=%22utilitarianism%22+%22in+1970..1979%22&ots=z6nP38wBe2&sig=ACfU3U3rOY6O0pKq4WFiL8jExlfDJ7lHVw&hl=en#v=onepage&q=%22utilitarianism%22%20%22in%201970..1979%22&f=false |language=en}}</ref> |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1974 | + | | 1974 || || Robert Nozick publishes ''Anarchy, State and Utopia'', which claims that utilitarianism ignores the basic fact of human life – namely, our 'separate existences'.<ref name="Brooke"/> |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1976 | + | | 1976 || || Motive utilitarianism is first proposed by {{w|Robert Merrihew Adams}}.<ref>Robert Merrihew Adams, ''Motive Utilitarianism'', The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 73, No. 14, On Motives and Morals (12 August 1976), pp. 467–81</ref> |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1977 | + | | 1977 || || The concept of preference utilitarianism is first proposed by {{w|John Harsanyi}} in ''Morality and the Theory of Rational Behaviour'',<ref>[[w:John Harsanyi|Harsanyi, John C.]] 1977. "Morality and the theory of rational behavior." ''[[w:Social Research (journal)|Social Research]]'' 44 (4):623–56. {{JSTOR|40971169}}.</ref><ref name="Harsanyi">[[w:John Harsanyi|Harsanyi, John C.]] [1977] 1982. "Morality and the theory of rational behaviour." Pp. 39–62 in ''Utilitarianism and Beyond'', edited by [[Amartya Sen|A. Sen]] and [[w:Bernard Williams|B. Williams]]. Cambridge: {{w|Cambridge University Press}}. {{ISBN|978-0-511-61196-4}}.</ref> however the concept is more commonly associated with {{w|R. M. Hare}},<ref name="Hare 1981 b">{{cite book | last = Hare | first = R.M. | author-link = R. M. Hare | title = Moral thinking: its levels, method, and point | publisher = Clarendon Press Oxford University Press | location = Oxford New York | year = 1981 | isbn = 978-0-19-824660-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/moralthinkingits0000hare }}</ref> {{w|Peter Singer}},<ref>{{cite book |last=Singer |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Singer |title=Practical ethics |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge New York |year=1979 |edition=1st |isbn=978-0-521-29720-2 }}:{{cite book |last=Singer |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Singer |title=Practical ethics |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge/New York |year=1993 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-521-43971-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/practicalethics00sing }}</ref> and {{w|Richard Brandt}}.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brandt |first=Richard B. |author-link=Richard Brandt |title=A Theory of the Good and the Right |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford/New York |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-19-824550-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/theoryofgood00bran }}</ref> |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1981 | + | | 1981 || || {{w|R.M. Hare}} publishes ''Moral Thinking''. |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1981 | + | | 1981 || Organization || {{w|Mouvement Anti-Utilitariste dans les Sciences Sociales}} |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 1994 | + | | 1994 || || Necip Fikri Alican publishes ''Mill's Principle of Utility: A Defense of John Stuart Mill's Notorious Proof''. |
|- | |- | ||
| − | | 2003 | + | | 2003 || || Frederick Rosen warns that descriptions of utilitarianism can bear "little resemblance historically to utilitarians like Bentham and {{w|J. S. Mill}}" and can be more "a crude version of {{w|act utilitarianism}} conceived in the twentieth century as a {{w|straw man}} to be attacked and rejected."<ref>Rosen, Frederick. 2003. ''Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill''. Routledge. p. 32.</ref> |
|- | |- | ||
|} | |} | ||
Revision as of 18:59, 31 August 2022
This is a timeline of FIXME.
Contents
Sample questions
The following are some interesting questions that can be answered by reading this timeline:
Big picture
| Time period | Development summary | More details |
|---|---|---|
| 18th century | Utilitarianism emerges as a distinct ethical position. |
Full timeline
| Year | Event type | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1725 | Francis Hutcheson first introduces a key utilitarian phrase in An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue: "when choosing the most moral action, the amount of virtue in a particular action is proportionate to the number of people such brings happiness to".[1] | |||
| 1731 | John Gay publishes In Concerning the Fundamental Principle of Virtue or Morality. Some would claim that he developed the first systematic theory of utilitarian ethics.[2] | |||
| 1751 | David Hume publishes An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals. | |||
| 1785 | William Paley publishes The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy. Schneewind (1977) would write that "utilitarianism first became widely known in England through the work of William Paley."[3] | |||
| 1789 | Jeremy Bentham publishes An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. | |||
| 1861 | John Stuart Mill's book Utilitarianism first appears as a series of three articles published in Fraser's Magazine. It would be reprinted as a single book in 1863.[4][5] Stuart Mill acknowledges in a footnote that, though Jeremy Bentham believed "himself to be the first person who brought the word 'utilitarian' into use, he did not invent it. Rather, he adopted it from a passing expression" in John Galt's 1821 novel Annals of the Parish.[6] | |||
| 1907 | Hastings Rashdall publishes The Theory of Good and Evil. The description of ideal utilitarianism is first used in this book. | |||
| 1912 | G. E. Moore publishes Ethics. | |||
| 1953 | Urmson publishes an influential article arguing that Mill justified rules on utilitarian principles.[7] | |||
| 1958 | The term "negative utilitarianism" was introduced by R. Ninian Smart in his reply to Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies. Smart also presents the most famous argument against negative utilitarianism:[8] that negative utilitarianism would entail that a ruler who is able to instantly and painlessly destroy the human race would have a duty to do so. Furthermore, every human being would have a moral responsibility to commit suicide, thereby preventing future suffering.[9] | |||
| 1971 | The objection that "utilitarianism does not take seriously the distinction between persons" comes to prominence with the publication of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice.[10] | |||
| 1971 | John Rawls publishes his antiutilitarian book A Theory of Justice, which rejects utilitarianism as an acceptable foundation for principles of justice.[11] | |||
| 1972 | English philosopher Stuart Hampshire laments that utilitarianism is no longer the bold, innovative, and even subversive doctrine that it has once been.[12] | |||
| 1973 | In Principles, R. M. Hare accepts that rule utilitarianism collapses into act utilitarianism but claims that this is a result of allowing the rules to be "as specific and un-general as we please."[13] He argues that one of the main reasons for introducing rule utilitarianism was to do justice to the general rules that people need for moral education and character development and he proposes that "a difference between act-utilitarianism and rule-utilitarianism can be introduced by limiting the specificity of the rules, i.e., by increasing their generality."[13] | |||
| 1973 | Addressing utilitarianism, Bernard Williams writes "the day cannot be too far off when we hear no more of it".[14] | |||
| 1974 | Robert Nozick publishes Anarchy, State and Utopia, which claims that utilitarianism ignores the basic fact of human life – namely, our 'separate existences'.[11] | |||
| 1976 | Motive utilitarianism is first proposed by Robert Merrihew Adams.[15] | |||
| 1977 | The concept of preference utilitarianism is first proposed by John Harsanyi in Morality and the Theory of Rational Behaviour,[16][17] however the concept is more commonly associated with R. M. Hare,[18] Peter Singer,[19] and Richard Brandt.[20] | |||
| 1981 | R.M. Hare publishes Moral Thinking. | |||
| 1981 | Organization | Mouvement Anti-Utilitariste dans les Sciences Sociales | ||
| 1994 | Necip Fikri Alican publishes Mill's Principle of Utility: A Defense of John Stuart Mill's Notorious Proof. | |||
| 2003 | Frederick Rosen warns that descriptions of utilitarianism can bear "little resemblance historically to utilitarians like Bentham and J. S. Mill" and can be more "a crude version of act utilitarianism conceived in the twentieth century as a straw man to be attacked and rejected."[21] |
Meta information on the timeline
How the timeline was built
Base literature
- Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction, by Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and Peter Singer.[12]
The initial version of the timeline was written by FIXME.
Funding information for this timeline is available.
Feedback and comments
Feedback for the timeline can be provided at the following places:
- FIXME
What the timeline is still missing
Timeline update strategy
See also
External links
References
- ↑ Hutcheson, Francis (2002) [1725]. "The Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue". In Schneewind, J. B. Moral Philosophy from Montaigne to Kant. Cambridge University Press. p. 515. ISBN 978-0-521-00304-9.
- ↑ Ashcraft, Richard (1991) John Locke: Critical Assessments (Critical assessments of leading political philosophers), Routledge, p. 691
- ↑ Schneewind, J. B. (1977). Sidgwick's Ethics and Victorian Moral Philosophy. Oxford University Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-19-824552-0.
- ↑ Hinman, Lawrence (2012). Ethics: A Pluralistic Approach to Moral Theory. Wadsworth. ISBN 978-1-133-05001-8.
- ↑ Mill, John Stuart (2010) [1863]. Utilitarianism - Ed. Heydt (Broadview Editions). Broadview Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-55111-501-6. Retrieved 2019-07-28.
- ↑ Mill, John Stuart. 1861. Utilitarianism. n1.
- ↑ Urmson, J. O. (1953). "The Interpretation of the Moral Philosophy of J. S. Mill". Philosophical Quarterly. 3 (10): 33–39. JSTOR 2216697. doi:10.2307/2216697.
- ↑ Arrhenius & Bykvist 1995, p. 31.
- ↑ Smart 1958, p. 542.
- ↑ Rawls, John (2005). A Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-674-01772-6.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Brooke, David (2 June 2009). Q&A Jurisprudence 2009-2010. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-24201-5.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lazari-Radek, Katarzyna de; Singer, Peter (2017). Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-872879-5.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Hare, R. M. (1972–1973). "The Presidential Address: Principles". Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. New Series. 73: 1–18. JSTOR 4544830. doi:10.1093/aristotelian/73.1.1.
- ↑ Barrow, Robin (3 June 2015). Utilitarianism: A Contemporary Statement. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-40654-9.
- ↑ Robert Merrihew Adams, Motive Utilitarianism, The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 73, No. 14, On Motives and Morals (12 August 1976), pp. 467–81
- ↑ Harsanyi, John C. 1977. "Morality and the theory of rational behavior." Social Research 44 (4):623–56. Template:JSTOR.
- ↑ Harsanyi, John C. [1977] 1982. "Morality and the theory of rational behaviour." Pp. 39–62 in Utilitarianism and Beyond, edited by A. Sen and B. Williams. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Template:ISBN.
- ↑ Hare, R.M. (1981). Moral thinking: its levels, method, and point. Oxford New York: Clarendon Press Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-824660-2.
- ↑ Singer, Peter (1979). Practical ethics (1st ed.). Cambridge New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29720-2.:Singer, Peter (1993). Practical ethics (2nd ed.). Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-43971-8.
- ↑ Brandt, Richard B. (1979). A Theory of the Good and the Right. Oxford/New York: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-824550-6.
- ↑ Rosen, Frederick. 2003. Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill. Routledge. p. 32.
