UTILITARIANISM

An Introduction to
the Ethical
Theories of Jeremy
Bentham and John
Stuart Mill
 • UTILITARIANISM
UTILITARIANISM A. Jeremy Bentham
1. Hedonistic Calculus
2. Act Utilitarianism

B. John Stuart Mill

1. Rule Utilitarianism
2. Two Types of Pleasure
-Lower Pleasure
-Higher Pleasure
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Father and son

train accident
 • For example, assume a hospital has four
people whose lives depend upon receiving
UTILITARIANISM organ transplants: a heart, lungs, a
kidney, and a liver. If a healthy person
wanders into the hospital, his organs
could be harvested to save four lives at the
expense of one life.
• This would arguably produce the
greatest good for the greatest
number.

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 • Utilitarianism
UTILITARIANISM holds that the
most ethical
choice is the one
that will produce
the greatest good
for the greatest
number. 5
Jeremy Bentham
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BIOGRAPHY
• He was born in Houndsditch,
London in the year 1748.
• He was a child Prodigy
• At the age of 8 he was sent off to
Westminster School…. “this school was
wretched”
• Queen’s College in Oxford- earned his
Bachelor of Arts
• 1766- took his MA degree
• Introduction to the principles of morals
and legislation published in 1789

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BENTHAM’S • Find an objective basis for

PROJECT
moral decision making.
• He rejected the notions of
“moral sense,” “right reason,”
which is common during his
days.
• He found pleasure to be the
only objective good and pain
the only evil.

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Principle of “Nature has
Utility placed mankind
under the
governance of two
sovereign masters,
pain and
pleasure”

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Principle of • Man is under two great
masters,
Utility pain and pleasure.
• Those actions whose results
increase happiness or
diminish pain are good.
They have “utility.”

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Principle of
Utility
How do we
know what
act produces
happiness?
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Hedonistic
Bentham
Calculus
believed that
everything
can be
quantified.
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Hedonistic THE HEDONISTIC/FELICIFIC CALCULUS

Calculus 1. Intensity- how strong it is

2. Duration- how long it is
3. Certainty-how likely it could be
4. Propinquity-when it could arrive
5. Fecundity- if it will cause further
pleasure
6. Purity- how free from pain it is
7. Extent- how many people are
affected
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Hedonistic Calculate carefully the
Calculus amount of pleasure and
the amount of pain
that any act will bring.

Formula:
Happiness - Pain =
Balance. 1
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 Act
Utilitarianism
- Each action we
take should
promote the
greatest good to
the greatest
number.
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 Act
Utilitarianism Example:
Let’s say you are in a boat and you
see two people drowning in one area
of the sea and one person drowning
on another. You don’t have time to
reach both places.

-Act Utilitarianism will tell us we

should rescue the two people over
the water.
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 • Principle of Utility: The
Utilitarianism best action is that
which produces the
greatest happiness
and/or reduces pain.
• Greatest Happiness: We
ought to do that which
produces the greatest
happiness and least pain
for the greatest number 1
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of people.
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John
Stuart
Mill
Biography • Born on May 20,
1806 in Pentonville,
London, UK.
• Son of James Mill
• At the age of three he
studied Greek and Latin at
eight.
• At the age of eleven, he
wrote History of Roman Law
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• Book entitled Utilitarianism

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• Mill followed the philosophy of
Bentham to some extent. But he
disagreed with Bentham’s
hedonistic calculus. He believed
that happiness cannot be
calculated on the amount of
pleasure and the amount of pain in
a certain action.
• Mill placed greater importance on
the happiness of all rather than on
one’s own happiness.
• Happiness must always be
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taken into consideration before 0

making a moral decision.

 Rule • He advocated the same
Utilitarianism principle that the right thing
to do is to promote greatest
good for the greatest
number
• Mill argues that we must
consider the quality of
the happiness, not
merely the quantity.

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 Rule
Utilitarianism • The act of
condemning the
terrorists to death.
• Killing the drug lords
and drug addicts to
alleviate the crimes
and poverty. 2

• On abortion
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 Rule 2 Types of Pleasure
Utilitarianism • Lower Pleasure
–Bodily or sensual
pleasures
• Higher Pleasure
–Intellectual pleasures

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 Bentham and Mill see moral good
SUMMARY as pleasure, not merely self-
gratification, but also the greatest
happiness for the greatest number
of people. One is compelled to do
whatever increases pleasure and
decreases pain to the most number
of persons, counting each as one
and none as more than one.

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 In determining the greatest
SUMMARY happiness for the greatest number
of people, there is no distinction
between Bentham and Mill.
Bentham suggests his felicific calculus, a
framework for quantifying moral
valuation. Mill provides a criterion for
comparative pleasures.
He thinks that persons who
experience two different types of
pleasures generally prefer higher
intellectual pleasures, to base 2
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sensual ones.