Utilinarianism: Bentham + Mill

• Utilitarianism


  A theory of ethical naturalism
• Jeremy Bentham


  • "Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure"
  • Argues pain + pleasure motivates + directs lives
  • Argues natural feature of life determines descriptive + normative ethics
  • Morality linked to observation + experience – main idea of ethical naturalism
  • Pleasure = one intrinsic good, pain = one intrinsic evil
• Determining moral obligation


  1. Use observable facts of pain + pleasure

  2. Seek to maximise pleasure + minimise pain based on consequences

  3. Seek the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people
• Bentham's Pleasure Calculus


  Pleasure measured by intensity, proximity, purity, certainty, duration, productiveness and extent
• Utilitarianism = example of consequentialist approach to ethics
• Moral value of an action = determined by results it aims to achieve
• John Stuart Mill


  • Introduced moral rules in Utilitarianism
  • Known as a Rule Utilitarian
  • Rejected Bentham's view all pleasures = equal + measurable
  • Argued higher cultural + intellectual pleasures exist – preferred to lower physical pleasures
  • Utilitarianism about fair distribution of natural benefits
• Justifying moral rules


  1. Argued moral rules developed naturally – found theft, lying + murder did not benefit society

  2. Justified because it produces balance of pleasure over pain

  3. E.g if everyone decided to tell truth or not in each individual situation = chaos – not lying = right because supports principle of offering greatest happiness to greatest number