“It is the greatest happiness of the greatest

number that is the measure of right and

wrong.”

–JEREMY BENTHAM
 UTILITARIANISM
-Moral theory that focuses on the results or consequences of our
actions and treats intentions as irrelevant.

"Instead of focusing on the intent behind our behavior what if we

paid more attention to the consequences.“
In this view.. Good consequences is equal good actions
 Modern utilitarianism was founded in the 18th century by British Philosophers
Jeremy bentham and John Stuart Mill. But the theory has philosophical
ancestors in ancient Greek thinkers such as epicurus.
And these guys agreed that:
 action should be measured in terms of the happiness or pressure that they
produce.
Like kant utilitarianism agree that a moral theory should apply equally to
everyone but they thought the way to do that was to ground it in something
WHAT IS A GOOD that's really intuitive. And there's really nothing more basic than the Primal
desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
CONSEQUENCES? Utilitarianism - known as the principle of utility -is a hedonistic Moral Theory
Hedonistic Moral theory -this means the good is equal to the pleasant and we
ought morally to pursue pleasure and happiness and work to avoid pain.
To put it formally: "We should act always las to produce the greatest good for
the greatest number“.
Utilitarianism - is not an egoistic theory
egoism -says that everyone ought, morally to pursue their own good.
In contact to that utilitarianism is other regarding UTILITARIANISM says that we
should pursue pleasure or happiness not just for ourselves but for as many
sentient being as possible.
The History of Utilitarianism First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014.
Utilitarianism is one of the most powerful and persuasive approaches to normative ethics in the history
of philosophy.
The Classical Utilitarians, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, identified the good with pleasure, so,
like Epicurus, were hedonists about value. They also held that we ought to maximize the good, that is,
bring about ‘the greatest amount of good for the greatest number’.
Utilitarianism is also distinguished by impartiality and agent-neutrality. Everyone's happiness counts the
same. When one maximizes the good, it is the good impartially considered.

1. Precursors to the Classical Approach

Though the first systematic account of utilitarianism was developed by Jeremy Bentham (1748–
1832), the core insight motivating the theory occurred much earlier. That insight is that morally
appropriate behavior will not harm others, but instead increase happiness or ‘utility.’
2. The Classical Approach
The Classical Utilitarians, Bentham and Mill, were concerned with legal and social reform. If
anything could be identified as the fundamental motivation behind the development of Classical
Utilitarianism it would be the desire to see useless, corrupt laws and social practices changed.
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) was influenced both by Hobbes' account of human nature and Hume's
account of social utility. He famously held that humans were ruled by two sovereign masters — pleasure
and pain.
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) was a follower of Bentham, and, through most of his life, greatly admired
Bentham's work even though he disagreed with some of Bentham's claims — particularly on the nature of
‘happiness.’
3. Henry Sidgwick
Henry Sidgwick's (1838–1900) The Methods of Ethics (1874) is one of the most well known works in
utilitarian moral philosophy, and deservedly so.
-In The Methods Sidgwick is concerned with developing an account of “…the different methods of Ethics
that I find implicit in our common moral reasoning…” These methods are egoism, intuition based
morality, and utilitarianism.
-On Sidgwick's view, utilitarianism is the more basic theory.
4. Ideal Utilitarianism
G. E. Moore strongly disagreed with the hedonistic value theory adopted by the Classical
Utilitarians.
-Moore agreed that we ought to promote the good, but believed that the good included far more than
what could be reduced to pleasure.
 DISTRIBUTIVE
JUSTICE
- Is a concept that addresses the ownership of goods in a society.
It assumes that there ought to be a large amount of fairness in
the distribution of goods.
 1.Justice as fairness
 In his book A Theory of Justice, John Rawls outlines his famous theory about justice as
fairness.
The theory consists of three core components:
 the equality of people in rights and liberties
 the equality of opportunities for all;

THEORIES OF  and an arrangement of economic inequalities focused on benefit maximization for

those who are least advantaged.

DISTRIBUTIVE 2.The original position

JUSTICE
 Rawls presents the concept of an original position as a hypothetical idea of how to
establish "a fair procedure so that any principles agreed on will be just."In his
envisioning of the original position, it is created from a judgement made through
negotiations between a group of people who will decide on what a just distribution of
primary goods is (according to Rawls, the primary goods include freedoms,
opportunities, and control over resources). 
3. Viel of Ignorance
 This nullification of temptations is realised through a veil of ignorance, which these
people will be behind. The veil prevents the people from knowing what particular
preferences they will have by concealing their talents, objectives, and, most
importantly, where in society they themselves will end up. The veil, on the other hand,
does not conceal general information about the society, and the people are assumed
to possess societal and economic knowledge beyond the personal level
  The first principle, the liberty principle, is the equal access
to basic rights and liberties for all. With this, each person
BASIC PRINCIPLES should be able to access the most extensive set of liberties
that is compatible with similar schemes of access by other
OF A citizens. Thereby, it is not only a question of positive
individual access but also of negative restrictions so as to
JUST DISTRIBUTION respect others’ basic rights and liberties.

 The second principle, the difference principle, addresses

how the arrangement of social and economic inequalities,
and thus the just distribution should look. Firstly, Rawls
argues that such distribution should be based on a
reasonable expectation of advantage for all, but also to the
greatest benefit of the least advantaged in society.
Secondly, the offices and positions attached to this
arrangement should be open to all.
 EGALITARIANISM
 is a philosophical and political belief that all individuals must be treated equally and should have equal rights,
opportunities, and status within society.
 Egalitarian societies typically view differences in nationality, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or
ethnicity as irrelevant or insignificant.
The philosophical foundation of Egalitarianism
 Egalitarianism is a philosophical and political belief that all individuals must be treated equally and should have
equal rights, opportunities, and status within society. •
 Egalitarian societies typically view differences in nationality, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or
ethnicity as irrelevant or insignificant.
 Egalitarianism is a philosophical and political belief that all individuals must be treated equally and should have
equal rights, opportunities, and status within society.
 Egalitarian societies typically view differences in nationality, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or
ethnicity as irrelevant or insignificant.
 Moral egalitarianism
 refers to the belief that all humans are morally equal and
should be treated as such.

TYPES OF Political egalitarianism

EGALITARIANISM  is the belief that everyone should have an equal say in the
political process regardless of their status or class.

Distributive egalitarianism
 is concerned about the economic distribution of wealth,
whereby resources are allocated in a manner that ensures
that everyone has the same opportunities to achieve
economic success.
Shortcomings
1. Those with greater needs( handicapped ) would get less fulfilment than others.
2. The lazy and idle people would be rewarded while the skillful and hardworking
would be discouraged.

Example of Egalitarian
1. A company that provides equal salary and promotion opportunities to all employees
regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation.
2. 2. A group of friends who divide household chores and responsibilities equally,
regardless of gender.
 CAPITALISM
“Capitalism” is derived from capital, which evolve from “capitale”, a late Latin word meaning based on “caput”
meaning “head”.

 Capitalism is an economic system characterized by private ownership of the mean of production, especially in
the industrial sector with labor paid only wages.
 Capitalism is often thought of as an economic system in which private actors own and control property in accord
with their interests, and demand and supply freely set prices in markets in a way that can serve the best
interests of society. The essential feature of capitalism is the motive to make a profit.
 SOCIALISM
 Socialism a ruling class of intellectuals, bureaucrats and social planners decide what people want or what is good
for society and then use the coercive power of the State to regulate, tax, and redistribute the wealth of those who
work for a living. In other words, socialism is a form of legalized theft.
The morality of socialism can be summed-up in two words: envy and self-sacrifice.
• Envy is the desire to not only possess another’s wealth but also the desire to see another’s wealth lowered to the
level of one’s own.
• Socialism’s teaching on self-sacrifice was nicely summarized by two of its greatest defenders, Hermann Goering
and Bennito Mussolini.
The highest principle of Nazism (National Socialism), said Goering, is: “Common good comes before private good.”
Fascism, said Mussolini, is ” a life in which the individual, through the sacrifice of his own private interests…realizes
that completely spiritual existence in which his value as a man lies.”
 Socialism is the social system which institutionalizes envy and self-sacrifice: It is the social system which uses
compulsion and the organized violence of the State to expropriate wealth from the producer class for its
redistribution to the parasitical class