The Prinicple Of Utility

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The Principle of Utility A.

1832)

There are two main people that talked about the principles of utility and they were Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. First off I’ll talk to you about Mr. Bentham. It is helpful to see Bentham’s moral philosophy in the context of his political philosophy, his attempt to find a rational approach to law and legislative action. He argued against “natural law” theory and thought that the classical theories of Plato and Aristotle as well as notions such as Kant’s Categorical Imperative were too outdated, confusing and/or controversial to be of much help with society’s ills and a program of social reform. He adopted what he took to be a simple and ‘scientific’ approach to the problems of law and morality and grounded his approach in the “Principle of Utility.”

The Principle of Utility

1. Recognizes the fundamental role of Pain

and Pleasure in human life.

2. Approves or disapproves of an action on the

basis of the amount of pain or pleasure brought

about (“consequences”).

3.Equates the good with the pleasurable

and evil with pain.

4.Asserts that pleasure and pain are capable

of “quantification”-and hence of measure.

As with the emerging theory of capitalism in the 18th and 19th Century England, we could speak of “pleasure” as “pluses” and “pains” as “minuses.” Thus the utilitarian would calculate which actions bring about more pluses over minuses.

In measuring pleasure and pain, Bentham introduces the following criteria:

It’s intensity, duration, certainty (or uncertainty), and its nearness (or fairness). He also includes its “fecundity” (more or less of the same will follow) and its “purity” (its pleasure won’t be followed by pain & vice versa). In considering actions that affect numbers of people, we must also account for their extent.

As a social reformer, Bentham applied this principle to the laws of England-- for example, those areas of the law concerning crime and punishment. An analysis of theft reveals that it not only causes harm to the victim, but also, if left unpunished, it endangers the ve...

... middle of paper ...

...od reason. We all need help at some point in time, and I hope that after we get that help we can see that we’ve been helped and maybe now is a good time for me to help out someone else. Another means of money giving is to charity. Just like welfare, charity is another good reason for our society to help people or even groups that are in need for help or research. In our society there are many people that count on others for help. The people that need help for medical reasons or what have you deserve the right to benefit from charities or other outside donations. The one thing that our society can not do is take advantage of these actions and right them off on our taxes. We can not take advantage of the taxpayers money. We need to use our society in the best way we can ethically.

Cavalier, Robert http://caae.phil.cmu.edu/CAAE/80130/part1/sect4/BenardandMill.html,

2/9/00.

Barry, Vincent, Applying Ethics: A Text With Readings, Wadsworth Publishing,

Belmount, 1983.

Cohen, Warren, Ethics in Thought and Action, Ardsley House Publisher, New York,

1995.

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