Bentham's Utiltarianism
Give an Account of Bentham’s Utilitarianism (30 Marks)
“The greatest good for the greatest number” is the basic principle of Bentham’s Utilitarianism. To demonstrate this theory, consider this situation: there are only enough seats in a car to take 5 of 6 people to the cinema- should one person be left behind? According to Bentham, yes, the five people should still go because the decision brings pleasure to the greatest number of people.
As a hedonist (someone who believes that pleasure is the chief ‘good’), Bentham thought that pleasure was the sole good and pain the sole evil. Bentham composed a theory which took this into account. The theory is based on a teleological approach where the consequences determine the morality of the action. It has consists of three main parts: the Motivation of Humans, the Principle of Utility, and the Hedonic Calculus.
Bentham’s theory is a form of Act Utilitarianism. People who follow this rule maintain that the good action is the one that leads to the greatest good in a particular situation. This rule is flexible, being able to take into account individual situations at a given moment. However, it has the potential to justify any act.
The starting point of the theory looks at what encourages humans to make specific choices. He says that all humans are motivated by pleasure and pain. He states that all human beings pursue pleasure and avoid pain. Jeremy observes that pleasure and pain identify what we should and shouldn’t do.
With the dilemma mentioned previously, where there are not enough seats in the car for everyone to go to the cinema, if the majority of people receive the most pleasure by going to the cinema, then going without one person is what they should do according to the theory as is produces the least amount of pain.
The Principle of Utility is the second part of the theory. This determines the rightness or wrongness of an action by its usefulness. According to Bentham, action is right if it produces the
“The greatest good for the greatest number” is the basic principle of Bentham’s Utilitarianism. To demonstrate this theory, consider this situation: there are only enough seats in a car to take 5 of 6 people to the cinema- should one person be left behind? According to Bentham, yes, the five people should still go because the decision brings pleasure to the greatest number of people.
As a hedonist (someone who believes that pleasure is the chief ‘good’), Bentham thought that pleasure was the sole good and pain the sole evil. Bentham composed a theory which took this into account. The theory is based on a teleological approach where the consequences determine the morality of the action. It has consists of three main parts: the Motivation of Humans, the Principle of Utility, and the Hedonic Calculus.
Bentham’s theory is a form of Act Utilitarianism. People who follow this rule maintain that the good action is the one that leads to the greatest good in a particular situation. This rule is flexible, being able to take into account individual situations at a given moment. However, it has the potential to justify any act.
The starting point of the theory looks at what encourages humans to make specific choices. He says that all humans are motivated by pleasure and pain. He states that all human beings pursue pleasure and avoid pain. Jeremy observes that pleasure and pain identify what we should and shouldn’t do.
With the dilemma mentioned previously, where there are not enough seats in the car for everyone to go to the cinema, if the majority of people receive the most pleasure by going to the cinema, then going without one person is what they should do according to the theory as is produces the least amount of pain.
The Principle of Utility is the second part of the theory. This determines the rightness or wrongness of an action by its usefulness. According to Bentham, action is right if it produces the