Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is a moral principle that holds that the morally right course of action in any situation is the one that produces the greatest balance of benefits over harms for everyone affected. So long as a course of action produces maximum benefits for everyone, utilitarianism does not care whether the benefits are produced by lies, manipulation, or coercion (West). The concept of utilitarianism was originated in the teachings of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, but as a specific school of thought, it was originally proposed by Jeremy Bentham. Bentham was one of the most influential utilitarians, partially through his writings but particularly through his students all around the world.

Bentham was a legal reformer who sought an objective basis that would provide a publicly acceptable norm for determining what kinds of laws England should enact. He believed that the most promising way of reaching such an agreement was to choose that policy that would bring about the greatest net benefits to society once the harms had been taken into account. His motto, a familiar one now, was "the greatest good for the greatest number." (West). Bentham found pain and pleasure to be the only intrinsic values in the world. Bentham argued that morality is not about pleasing God, nor is it about being faithful to abstract rules. Morality is about making the world as happy as possible. Bentham's ambition in life was to create a "Pannomion", a complete Utilitarian code of law.

The principle of utilitarianism has gone through some changes over the years. Utilitarians have redefined and expanded the theory to the extent where it has lost the initial valor Bentham saw in the principle when he coined it. For example, Bentham’s defined the benefits and harms of an act in terms of pleasure or pain one derives from it. John Stuart Mill spoke of benefits and harms not in terms of pleasure and pain alone but in terms of the quality or intensity of such pleasure and pain....