Ethics: Utilitarianism

The theory behind utilitarianism is that one’s actions are right if it promotes happiness or pleasure and wrong if it does not promote happiness or pleasure. The main point to this theory is the principle of utility that states “according to which actions should be chosen that bring about the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.” (Palmer) Jeremy Bentham gave essentially utilitarianism its name and brought more attention to it than those before him. Bentham came up with a guide named the calculus of felicity that included seven categories for choosing among different possible activities to promote one’s happiness or pleasures. John Stuart Mills, also an utilitarian, added to Bentham’s calculus because he did not fully agree with everything it stood for. Bernard Williams argued that utilitarianism is not a good moral theory and that it violates moral integrity. In this paper I will explain Bentham’s calculus of felicity, Mill’s addition to the calculus, and Williams’ thoughts against utilitarianism. The first category of the calculus of felicity is intensity which asked how intense are the pleasures likely to be. The second is duration. Duration refers to the question of how long the pleasures are to last. The third is certainty. The question of certainty is how certain are the pleasures. The fourth is propinquity which refers to how soon will the pleasures be available. Number five on the calculus is fecundity. Fecundity wants one to think about how many more pleasures will follow in their wake. Number six is purity. Purity wants one to question how free from pain are the pleasures. Lastly, number seven is extent. Extent questions how many people will receive pleasure and be affected by your acts. Mills understood Bentham’s theory to be quantitative with a numerical analysis. Mills preferred to think of utilitarianism as a qualitative analysis. Mills believed in different types of pleasures. Pleasures of the body