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Moral Foundations of Politics · Lecture 5 of 25 · 45:33

Lecture 5: Classical Utilitarianism and Distributive Justice

5. Classical Utilitarianism and Distributive Justice on YouTube

Study guide

What this lecture covers

Continuing from the previous lecture, Shapiro digs into how classical utilitarianism handles the measurement and distribution of utility. He shows that Bentham's system treats utility as quantifiable, expressible in money, and comparable across people, and then works through the principle of diminishing marginal utility, the idea that each additional unit of a good delivers less new satisfaction than the last.

The lecture's central move is to show that these assumptions combine to make classical utilitarianism a radically redistributive doctrine: taken to its logical conclusion, it implies redistributing wealth until everyone has equal utility. Shapiro then explains how Bentham tries to limit that implication with a distinction between "absolute" and "practical" equality, and closes by questioning whether individual rights have any place in a doctrine this consequentialist.

Key ideas

  • Interpersonal comparisons of utility: Bentham's system assumes we can compare and add up utility across different people, a controversial assumption other traditions later reject.
  • Diminishing marginal utility: each additional unit of a good (money, a car, a loaf of bread) produces less additional satisfaction than the previous unit, though richer people still want more, not less, money.
  • Redistribution to the poor: because a dollar means more to someone poor than to someone rich, utilitarian logic favors taking from the rich and giving to the poor until utility is equalized.
  • Absolute versus practical equality: Bentham resists redistributing all the way to equality, arguing the rich would "burn their crops" (destroy incentives) before giving everything away, so redistribution should stop at a lower, "practical" point.
  • Empirical uncertainty: how far redistribution can go before undermining incentives is an empirical question without a clear scientific answer, which weakens the claim that utilitarianism gives certain, science-based political answers.
  • Rights entering through the back door: Bentham's view that law "preserves" what labor creates suggests utilitarianism still needs to respect some individual entitlement to the fruits of one's work, even though it has no explicit theory of rights.

Walkthrough

The mechanics of measuring utility (0:00)

Shapiro recaps Bentham's principle of maximizing the greatest happiness of the greatest number and explains that Bentham treats utility as quantifiable and expressible through money, illustrated with an example of paying students to attend class. He introduces the idea of revealed preference: varying a price can reveal information about people's preferences without changing those preferences.

Diminishing marginal utility and its complications (5:57)

Working through student examples (shoes, beer, integrity, health), the class tests the principle of diminishing marginal utility. Shapiro clarifies a common misunderstanding: diminishing marginal utility does not mean rich people care less about money; it means they need more of it to gain the same increment of satisfaction, so utilitarian logic expects the rich to remain greedy for wealth rather than indifferent to it.

Redistribution and the limits of utilitarianism (25:57)

Using an example comparing a wealthy person and someone destitute, Shapiro shows that Bentham's logic implies transferring wealth from rich to poor until utility is equalized, which made classical utilitarianism seem dangerously radical to property owners. Bentham's own response was to distinguish "absolute" equality (full redistribution) from "practical" equality (redistribution up to the point where incentives to produce start breaking down), an empirical claim that Shapiro compares to modern debates over tax cuts and economic stimulus.

What about rights? (34:15)

Shapiro asks whether a doctrine this focused on aggregate utility leaves any room for individual rights, noting that Bentham's framework seems to permit outcomes like ethnic cleansing if it increases total utility. He points to Bentham's claim that law "preserves" the fruits of labor as an implicit, if underdeveloped, recognition that individuals need some protected claim to what they produce, previewing the "rights-utility synthesis" that the course will examine through John Stuart Mill.

Before you watch

  • Review Lecture 4 on Bentham's five features of classical utilitarianism, especially the claims that utility is quantifiable and comparable across people.
  • Basic familiarity with the idea of diminishing returns (from an introductory economics course, if you have taken one) is useful but not required.

Check your understanding

  1. Why does the principle of diminishing marginal utility push classical utilitarianism toward radical redistribution?
  2. Explain why diminishing marginal utility does not imply that rich people care less about money.
  3. What is Bentham's distinction between absolute and practical equality, and why is it an empirical rather than a scientific claim?
  4. How does Bentham's remark that law "preserves" the fruits of labor suggest a limited role for individual rights within utilitarianism?

Vocabulary

distributive justice (noun)
The question of how goods, wealth and opportunities should fairly be shared among people.
Utilitarianism has strong implications for distributive justice.
diminishing marginal utility (phrase)
The idea that each extra unit of a good gives a person less added satisfaction than the previous unit.
A second loaf of bread brings less joy than the first, showing diminishing marginal utility.
marginal (adjective)
Relating to one extra, additional unit of something.
The marginal value of a dollar is smaller for a rich person.
revealed preference (phrase)
Learning what someone actually prefers by observing their choices, not by asking them.
Paying students different amounts reveals their preferences.
redistribute (verb)
To take resources from some people and give them to others, to change the sharing of wealth.
Utilitarian logic seems to favor redistributing wealth from rich to poor.
destitute (adjective)
Extremely poor, without basic necessities.
The example compares a wealthy person to someone destitute.
incentive (noun)
Something that encourages a person to act in a certain way, often a reward.
Too much redistribution can destroy incentives to work and produce.
absolute equality (phrase)
A situation where everyone has exactly the same amount.
Bentham resists redistributing wealth all the way to absolute equality.
practical equality (phrase)
A more limited, workable level of equality that stops before harming incentives.
Bentham argues for practical equality rather than total equality.
burn their crops (idiom)
To destroy your own resources rather than let others take them, an image of extreme reaction to redistribution.
Bentham feared the rich would burn their crops before giving everything away.
empirical question (phrase)
A question that can only be answered by observing evidence, not by pure logic.
How far redistribution can go is an empirical question, not a certain one.
fruits of labor (phrase)
The goods or rewards produced by someone's work.
Bentham says law preserves the fruits of one's labor.
preserve (verb)
To protect something so it is not lost or destroyed.
Law is meant to preserve what people have earned through work.
entitlement (noun)
A rightful claim to have or receive something.
This hints at an entitlement to what one produces, even without a full theory of rights.
back door (idiom)
An indirect or hidden way of introducing something.
Rights seem to enter Bentham's system through the back door.
ethnic cleansing (noun)
The forced removal or killing of an ethnic group from an area.
Shapiro warns that pure utilitarian logic could permit ethnic cleansing if it raised total utility.
aggregate (noun)
A total amount formed by combining many smaller parts.
Utilitarianism cares about the aggregate happiness across all people.
synthesis (noun)
A combination of two different ideas into one new, unified idea.
The course previews a rights-utility synthesis developed by Mill.
stimulus (economic) (noun)
Government spending or policy meant to increase economic activity.
Debates over tax cuts and economic stimulus echo Bentham's redistribution question.
logic (of an argument) (noun)
The reasoning or line of thought that leads to a conclusion.
Utilitarian logic seems to favor helping the poor.
mechanics (noun)
The detailed workings or steps of a process.
The lecture explains the mechanics of measuring utility.
underdeveloped (adjective)
Not fully worked out or expanded.
Bentham's account of rights remains underdeveloped.

Chapters

From the YouTube description

Moral Foundations of Politics (PLSC 118)

Professor Shapiro continues his examination of Jeremy Bentham's formulation of classical utilitarianism, with a focus on the distributive implications of the theory of "maximizing the greatest happiness of the greatest number." He engages students in a discussion of a guiding principle of classical utilitarianism, the principle of diminishing marginal utility, and some traditional critiques of this principle. Professor Shapiro examines the capacity of classical utilitarianism as a radically redistributive doctrine. Bentham himself tried to avoid this consequence with his argument that the rich would burn their crops before giving them away, and he differentiated between "absolute" and "practical" equality. Professor Shapiro connects all of these concepts to Reagan's tax cuts of the 1980s, pre- and post-apartheid South Africa, and contemporary debates about economic stimulus.

00:00 - Chapter 1. The Measurement of Utility
05:57 - Chapter 2. Classical Utilitarianism, Distributive Justice and Diminishing Marginal Utility
25:57 - Chapter 3. Diminishing Marginal Utility, Practical and Absolute Equality
34:15 - Chapter 4. What about Rights?

This course was recorded in Spring 2010.

← Lecture 4: Origins of Classical Utilitarianism · Lecture 6: From Classical to Neoclassical Utilitarianism →