Utilitarianism

2 Pages 509 Words

Utilitarianism.

Explain Bentham’s version of Utilitarianism.

Utilitarianism is the belief that the value of a thing or an action is determined by its utility (usefulness).

A system of ethics proposed by Jeremy Bentham puts forward the view that ‘good’ can be defined as the ‘greatest happiness for the greatest number.’ According to Utilitarianism, in its various forms, there is no ultimate or absolute goodness, but, Bentham said that the best thing to do in a given situation is to find a course of action that will provide happiness to everyone. Right and wrong according to utilitarianism, are relative to the people involved and the things which give them pleasure.

Bentham believed that whatever people did in a day would be judged on whether or not it benefited people in society. He also believed that everyone had an equal right to happiness and everyone was equal irrespective of what types of person they were.

The basis of this is Hedonism which means ethical principle holding that only what is pleasant or has pleasant consequences is mostly good. There are four points to hedonism which are; Psychological hedonism – people do seek happiness – so do what will make them happy, ethical hedonism – you have a duty to be happy therefore you ought to be happy, egotistical hedonism – do what makes yourself happy and altruistic hedonism meaning do what makes others happy. Bentham never really sorted out the distinctions or made them clear. He probably wanted it to be altruistic because he was concerned with social laws.

He suggested a way of measuring happiness which is called the Felicific Calculus which is a method of working out the sum total of pleasure and pain produced by an act, and therefore the total value of its consequences. When determining what action is right in a given situation, we should consider the pleasures and pains from it, in respect of their Duration, Certainty, Spin off, Purity, ...