The Philosophical Toolkit

Every LNAT Section B question, at its root, involves a question of values. Should the government do X? Is Y fair? Can Z be justified? To answer these questions persuasively, you need frameworks for thinking about what is right, what is fair, and what is justified.

You do not need to have studied philosophy. What you need is a small number of powerful, flexible frameworks that you can apply to virtually any topic. This lesson introduces four such frameworks — think of them as lenses through which you can examine any argument.

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Framework 1: Utilitarianism — The Greatest Good

The Core Idea

Utilitarianism holds that the right action is the one that produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people. It focuses on outcomes and consequences. An action is right if it maximises overall well-being; wrong if it produces more harm than good.

Key Thinkers

• Jeremy Bentham — founder of utilitarianism, argued that we should calculate the total pleasure and pain produced by an action
• John Stuart Mill — refined Bentham's view, arguing that some pleasures (intellectual, moral) are higher in quality than others (physical)