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 …show more content…
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