What Is Utilitarianism?

Utilitarianism is a teleological theory in normative ethics, this essentially means that the theory is one in which looks at the consequences of an action to determine if it is right or wrong. The theory of Utilitarianism mainly derives from the concept of utility which in this context is defined as something which is beneficial or conducive to the well-being of the maximum number. There are two main scholars of Utilitarianism, one of which is Jeremy Bentham and who is regarded as the founder of utilitarianism by most people. Bentham put great emphasis on the fact that quantity of pleasure is what mattered; additionally Bentham’s most prominent work included the hedonic calculus which was created to evaluate and weigh up the overall pain and
pleasure produced by an act. Additionally the second main scholar of Utilitarianism known as John Stuart Mill, emphasized that it was more so the quality of pleasure which was important rather than the quantity.
Mill also merged the Christian idea also known as the golden rule with his concept of Utilitarianism. Both act and rule Utilitarianism applied to Bentham and Mill’s theories, Bentham was more Act Utilitarian and Mill considered to be Rule however some may argue he may be both. Mill and Bentham both had very different theories when it came to Utilitarianism, Bentham’s theory was Quantitative and Mill’s theory was more Qualitative. Additionally Preference Utilitarianism (another form of Utilitarianism), considers whether an action is right or wrong by considering individual preferences. This alternative form of Utilitarianism is often associated with R.M Hare, Richard Brandt and Peter Singer. Preference Utilitarian’s claim that the right thing to do is that which is in the best interests of the greatest number, ultimately something that produces the best
consequences.
Jeremy Bentham was an exponent of hedonism; this theory essentially meant that the most useful thing to do and therefore the most moral thing to do is the maximisation of pleasure and the minimisation of pain.
Following on from this Bentham’s principle of Utility stated that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by its ‘utility’ (usefulness). So to put it into context if something is useful it causes pleasure or happiness. Therefore ‘an action is right if it produces the greatest good for the greatest number’. Bentham mentions the two ‘sovereign masters’ to be pleasure and pain, to Bentham these are to be seen as an individual’s good and in turn also act as a cause for action. Bentham’s principle of utility advocates his theory of Utilitarianism which is in short the greatest good for the greatest number. In order for people to measure the consequential pleasure and pain that results from an action to determine whether an action was good or not, Bentham excogitated a hedonic calculus. This was essentially a criteria in which an action was applied to, and only by doing this would we then know whether an action was good or not. The calculus looks at seven different criterions, the first of which is Purity; this essentially looks at an act that causes only pleasure and which is to be seen better than one that causes pleasured integrated with a little pain. Therefore you should ask yourself whether your act will also cause suffering. The second criterion is
Richness or ‘fecundity’, this looks at the likelihood that the pleasures or pains that it causes will be followed by similar pleasures of pains hence you should ask yourself whether your act will lead to more happiness later. The third criterion is Extent; this basically looks at the more people that enjoy the pleasure the better. Based on this you should therefore ask yourself how many people will be affected by your actions and furthermore how far will the happiness spread. The fourth criterion is Duration; this is simply looking at how long the pleasure will last. The fifth criterion is intensity, this means how intense the pleasure will be, so you should ask yourself how happy would you get. The sixth criterion is certainty, this looks at how certain you are that the predicted effects will happen, therefore you should ask yourself about how adamant you are about what will happen. The seventh and last criterion is timescale/remoteness and this looks at how long the pleasure will take to happen. All seven of these criterions are applicable to an individual action.