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In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. [1] [2] In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actions that ensure the greatest good for the greatest number. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit ...
- Ethical Philosophy
Ethics is concerned with the moral status of entities; for...
- Utilitarianism (Book)
Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is an 1861 essay written by...
- Rule Utilitarianism
Rule utilitarianism is a form of utilitarianism that says an...
- Ethical Philosophy
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- Utilitarianism in Practice
The theory was made popular by 18th and 19th century British philosophers like Francis Hutcheson, Jeremy Bentham, and John Stuart Mill, but the idea goes all the way back to ancienttimes. Bentham wrote about this idea with the words "The greatest good for the greatest number," but did not use the word utilitarianism. It was Mill, a follower of Bent...
Many philosophers argue that utilitarianism has important practical implications for how we should live ethically. For instance, according to utilitarianism we should help the poor, prevent animal suffering, and ensure that future generations have good lives.
Mar 27, 2009 · The History of Utilitarianism. First published Fri Mar 27, 2009; substantive revision Mon Sep 22, 2014. Utilitarianism is one of the most powerful and persuasive approaches to normative ethics in the history of philosophy. Though not fully articulated until the 19 th century, proto-utilitarian positions can be discerned throughout the history ...
Mar 29, 2024 · Utilitarianism, in normative ethics, a tradition stemming from the late 18th- and 19th-century English philosophers and economists Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill according to which an action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce the reverse of happiness.
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Feb 19, 2024 · Definition. Utilitarianism is a philosophy founded by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and then extended by other thinkers, notably John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). Utilitarianism involves the greatest happiness principle, which holds that a law or action is good if it promotes the greatest happiness of the greatest number, happiness being defined as ...
- Mark Cartwright
1. Life. A leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law and one of the founders of utilitarianism, Jeremy Bentham was born in Houndsditch, London on February 15, 1748. He was the son and grandson of attorneys, and his early family life was colored by a mix of pious superstition (on his mother’s side) and Enlightenment rationalism ...
