10 all forms fail to account for our sense of

10. All forms fail to account for our sense of integrity, e.g. The chemist; M.L.K., and Jim in the
jungle. (See Readings: Selections from J.J.C. Smart and Bernard Williams, Utilitarianism: For
and Against - Jim the Botanist) (Criterion 5 - adequacy)
This is an ICC exercise illustrating a criticism of Utilitarianism concerning how it deals with an individuals' relationship to
his/her actions. The holding of firm moral principles would be discouraged in Utilitarianism because of the possibility that
utility may require the violation of such principles and thus add to the agent's distress. It would be better for the utilitarian to
not hold strong views. Utilitarianism also suggests that we are just causal agents in the world. Our own attitudes are irrelevant to
figuring out the rightness of an action . But what we do is part of our biography. The claim is that the utilitarian approach
violates or fails to capture our sense of Integrity.
What would a Utilitarian do in each of these cases? Explain What would you do in each of these cases?
Things to Ponder:
Explain and illustrate the criticism that Utilitarianism fails to account for our sense of integrity. What do
you think of this objection? Wouldn’t a utilitarian be better off if they had no strongly held principles?
From J.J.C. Smart and Bernard Williams, Utilitarianism: For and Against. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1973, pp. 98-99
ISBN 0-521-09822-X
Jungle Jim
Jim finds himself in the central square of a small South American town. Tied up against the wall
are twenty Indians, most terrified, a few defiant. In front of them are several armed men in uniform. A
heavy man in a sweat-stained khaki shirt turns out to be the captain in charge and, after a good deal of
questioning of Jim which establishes that he got there by accident while on a botanical expedition,
explains that the Indians are a random group of the inhabitants who, after recent acts of protest against the
government, are just about to be killed to remind other possible protesters of the advantages of not
protesting. However, since Jim is an honored visitor from another land, the captain is happy to offer him a
guest's privilege of killing one of the Indians himself. If Jim accepts, then as a special mark of the
occasion, the other Indians will be let off. Of course, if Jim refuses, then there is no special occasion, and
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Pedro here will do what he was about to do when Jim arrived, and kill them all. Jim, with some desperate
recollection of schoolboy fiction, wonders whether if He got hold of a gun, he could hold the captain,
Pedro and the rest of the soldiers to threat, but it is quite clear from the set-up that nothing of that kind is
going to work: any attempt at that sort of thing will mean that all the Indians will be killed, and himself.