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When we finished last time,
we were looking at John Stuart Mill's
and his attempt
to reply
to the critics
of Bentham's utilitarianism
in his book Utilitarianism,
Mill tries to show
that critics to the contrary, it is possible
within utilitarian framework to distinguish between higher and lower
pleasures, it is possible to make
qualitative distinctions of worth,
and we tested of that idea
with the Simpsons
in the Shakespeare excerpts
and the results of our experiment
seemed to call into question
Mill's distinctions
because a great many of you
reported
that you prefer the Simpsons
but that you still consider Shakespeare
to be the higher for the worthier pleasure
that's the dilemma
with which our experiment confronts Mill.
what about Mill's
attempt to account
for especially weighty character
of individual rights and justice in chapter five of utilitarianism?
he wants to say that individual rights
are worthy
of special respect
in fact he goes so far as to say that justice is the most sacred part
and the most incomparably binding part of morality
but the same challenge
could be put
to this part of Mill's defense
why
is justice
the chief part
and the most binding part of our morality? well he says because in the long run
if we do justice and if we respect rights,
society as a whole
will be better off in the long run.
well what about that?
what if we have a case where making an exception and violating individual rights actually will
make people
better off in the long run is it all right then?
to use people?
and there's a further
objection
that could be raised against
Mill's case for justice and rights
suppose the utilitarian calculus in the long run works out as he says it will
such that respecting people's rights
is a way of making everybody better off in the long run
is that the right reason
is that the only reason
to respect people?
if the doctor goes in
and yanks the organs from the healthy patient who came in for a checkup
to save five lives
there would be adverse effects in the long run
eventually people would learn about this
and would stop going in for checkups
is it the right reason
is the only reason
that you as a doctor
won't yanked the organs out of a healthy patient
that you think
well if I use
him in this way
in the long run
more lives will be lost?
or is there another reason
having to do with intrinsic respect for the person as an individual
and if that reason matters
and it's not so clear
that even Mill's utilitarianism
can take account of it
fully to examine these two
worries or objections
to Mill's defense
we need to we need to push further
we need to ask
in the case of higher or worthier pleasures
are there theories of the good life
that can provide independent moral standards
for the worth of pleasures?
if so what do they look like?
that's one question
in the case of justice and rights
if we suspected that Mill is implicitly leaning on notions of human dignity or respect for
persons that are not, strictly speaking,
utilitarian
we need to look to see whether there are some stronger theories of rights
that can explain
the intuition
which even Mill shares
the intuition
that the reason for respecting individuals and not using them
goes beyond
even utility in the long run.
today we turn
to one
of those strong theories of rights
strong theories of rights say
individuals matter
not just as instruments to be used for a larger social purpose
or for the sake of maximizing utility
individuals
are separate beings with
separate lives
worthy of respect
and so it's a mistake
according to strong theories rights, it's a mistake
to think about justice or law
by just getting up preferences
and values
the strong rights theory we turn to today
is libertarianism
libertarianism
take individual rights seriously
it's called libertarianism because it says the fundamental individual right
is the right to liberty
precisely because we are separate individual beings
we're not available
to any use
that the society might
desire or devise. precisely because we're individual
separate human beings
we have a fundamental right to liberty
and that means
a right
to choose freely
to live our lives as we please
provided we respect other people's rights
to do the same
that's the fundamental idea
Robert Nozick
one of the libertarian philosophers we read
for this course puts it this way
individuals have rights
so strong and far-reaching are these rights
that they raise the question of what, if anything
the state may do.
so what does libertarianism say
about
the role of government
or of the state
well there are three things that most
modern states do
that
on the libertarian theory of rights
are illegitimate
are unjust
one of them
is paternalist legislation
that's passing laws that protect people from themselves
seat belt laws for example
or motorcycle helmet laws
the libertarian says
it may be a good thing if people wear seat belts,
but that should be up to them
and the state
the government
has no business coercing them, us
to wear seat belts
by law
its coercion
so no paternalist legislation
number one. number two
no morals legislation
many laws
try to promote
the virtue of citizens
or try to give expression
to the moral
values
of the society as a whole.
libertarians say that's also