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Jeremy Bentham & John Stuart Mill

Utilitarianism aims to maximize happiness for the greatest number of people. Jeremy Bentham proposed that morality is producing the greatest pleasure and least pain, as measured by intensity, duration, and other factors. John Stuart Mill argued for prioritizing higher pleasures like knowledge over lower ones. Later utilitarians like Henry Sidgwick categorized different types of utilitarian thinking, focusing on happiness for oneself, others, or universally. The goal remains promoting the greatest well-being for all.

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307 views

Jeremy Bentham & John Stuart Mill

Utilitarianism aims to maximize happiness for the greatest number of people. Jeremy Bentham proposed that morality is producing the greatest pleasure and least pain, as measured by intensity, duration, and other factors. John Stuart Mill argued for prioritizing higher pleasures like knowledge over lower ones. Later utilitarians like Henry Sidgwick categorized different types of utilitarian thinking, focusing on happiness for oneself, others, or universally. The goal remains promoting the greatest well-being for all.

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UTILITARIANI

SM
Jeremy bentham & john stuart mill
Utilitarian Principle:
“Greatest happiness of the greatest number”
Introduction:
 Is closely associated with hedonism in ancient
times (Epicureans)
 In ancient times, the formulation of hedonism is:
“Eat, Drink, Have Sex and be merry for
tomorrow you will die.”
 Agoncillo claimed that ancient Visayan
Filipinos were hedonistic (merry-go-lucky kind
of people)
 Under the influence of modern experimental science,
utilitarianism emerged from a desire to construct a
moral theory following the scientific method
(quantitative method)
 This method avoids purely speculative or
metaphysical concepts of right and wrong, good and
bad but are convertible into concrete verifiable
(quantifiable) terms which have concrete
consequences and results such as social and political
reform and the betterment and happiness of the human
community in general
Jeremy Bentham
(1748-1832)

 Bentham’s interest in ethics was


more practical than theoretical
 As a critic of law, of the prisons
system, and of political institutions,
he wanted to develop a moral norm
to distinguish good from bad
legislation
 Man is motivated by two drives: to seek pleasure and avoid
pain

“Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two


sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.” (Bentham)

 Pleasure – that pleasantness or feeling of well-being that man


derives from activities such as eating and drinking, but also
from such activities as reading a book or listening to music
 Utility – that property in any object whereby it tends to produce
pleasure, good or happiness to the party whose interest is
considered
Felicific Calculus:
 This principle implies a “felicific calculus”
–a way of balancing the pros and cons of
an envisaged act
 The morally good act produces “maximum
pleasure and minimum pain.”
7 Elements in Felicific Calculus:
1. Intensity (how intense is the pleasure?)
2. Duration (how long we will experience the pleasure?)
3. Probability (certainty or uncertainty)
4. Proximity (propinquity or remoteness)
5. Fecundity (the capacity to engender further pleasures)
6. Purity (does it have painful counter effects?)
7. Extent (how many?)
 For his own happiness, man must accept that
others also seek happiness

“Everybody is to count for one, nobody for more


than one.”

 If a man violates this rule, he eventually incurs


pain and unhappiness
 To help solve this problem, there are several
sanctions established to keep the individual from
seeking happiness at the expense of others:
1. Arrest, imprisonment (political)
2. Public opinion, gossip (social)
3. Punishment in the afterlife (religious)
4. Direct consequences of the action in one’s self
(physical)
In conclusion,

Ethics for Bentham consists of the method which


shows man how to attain pleasure and happiness
properly and effectively which is man’s fundamental
end and goal.
John Stuart Mill
(1806-1873)
 Mill found Bentham’s view of human nature
too narrow
 Mill proposed that man’s end (goal) is not mere
pleasure and absence of pain, but a more
generalized kind of happiness, which is sought
as end in itself, such as spiritual perfection,
knowledge, aesthetic experience, or creative
imagination
Types of pleasure:

For Mill, there are higher and lower pleasures, and


qualitatively different kinds of pleasures and
satisfactions

“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a


pig satisfied; better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than
a fool satisfied.” (Mill)
Bentham may suggest that harmonious
development of the human person is highest
happiness one can attain in life

But, this idea is hardly reconcilable with utilitarian


empirical approach
Henry Sidgwick (1838-1900)
 Sidgwick classifies 3 types of Utilitarianism:
1. Egoistical or Psychological Hedonism – good is the
greatest happiness of the agent
2. Intuitionism – there are ultimate ends transcending
mere utility such as knowledge, virtue, beauty
3. Universal Hedonism or Utilitarianism – the greatest
happiness of all those affected by the act
 Bentham is classified as “psychological
hedonist”
Seeking for the greatest happiness of the agent
although Bentham gives regard to the happiness
to others, but the happiness of others is sought
only insofar as it will redound to his own
happiness
 Mill is considered as “intuitionist hedonist”
We seek higher pleasures (like, knowledge, virtue,
beauty) than mere lower pleasures (like in eating,
drinking, and having sex)
These pleasures are egoistical (for one’s self-interest)
although Mill gives regard to the happiness of others,
but the happiness of others is sought for only insofar
as it redounds his own happiness
 Sidgwick himself is ascribed as “universal
hedonist”
Sidgwick’s version of utilitarianism arises from both
“psychological hedonism” and “intuitionism”
Sidgwick claims that the good is the happiness of the
individual and of the community in general
“greatest happiness of the greatest number”
Utilitarian Principle:
“Greatest happiness of the greatest number”
 Critics of utilitarianism:
George Edward Moore (1873-1958) claimed that
good is good regardless of whether it affects ten
people or a hundred
In Conclusion:
 For utilitarians, moral act is good when it
produces pleasure (happiness)
 Happiness is understood as psychological
(personal) and universal (happiness of greater
number of people)

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