utilitarianism summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see utilitarianism.

utilitarianism, Ethical principle according to which an action is right if it tends to maximize happiness, not only that of the agent but also of everyone affected. Thus, utilitarians focus on the consequences of an act rather than on its intrinsic nature or the motives of the agent (see consequentialism). Classical utilitarianism is hedonist, but values other than, or in addition to, pleasure (ideal utilitarianism) can be employed, or—more neutrally, and in a version popular in economics—anything can be regarded as valuable that appears as an object of rational or informed desire (preference utilitarianism). The test of utility maximization can also be applied directly to single acts (act utilitarianism), or to acts only indirectly through some other suitable object of moral assessment, such as rules of conduct (rule utilitarianism). Jeremy Bentham’s Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789) and John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism (1863) are major statements of utilitarianism.

James Mill Summary

James Mill was a Scottish philosopher, historian, and economist. He was prominent as a representative of philosophical radicalism, a school of thought also known as Utilitarianism, which emphasized the need for a scientific basis for philosophy as well as a humanist approach to politics and

John Austin Summary

John Austin was an English jurist whose writings, especially The Province of Jurisprudence Determined (1832), advocated a definition of law as a species of command and sought to distinguish positive law from morality. He had little influence during his lifetime outside the circle of Utilitarian

Jeremy Bentham Summary

Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher, economist, and theoretical jurist, the earliest and chief expounder of utilitarianism. At the age of four, Bentham, the son of an attorney, is said to have read eagerly and to have begun the study of Latin. Much of his childhood was spent happily at his

John Stuart Mill Summary

John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher, economist, and exponent of utilitarianism. He was prominent as a publicist in the reforming age of the 19th century, and remains of lasting interest as a logician and an ethical theorist. The eldest son of the British historian, economist, and