PHL 400 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Act Utilitarianism
4 Nov 2016
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Bentham"s original definition of the principle of utility (1776): It is the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers that is the measure of right and wrong . The greatest happiness principle actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. (548) There is a right thing to do in every action. Worst action will be the one that gets the greatest net gain of unhappiness: happiness: pleasure, and the absence of pain, unhappiness: pain, and the privation of pleasure. Pleasure: we value these ends because they are themselves means to a further end. Better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied, better to be socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied (550) Better to love and lost than to never love at all. Trade that one experience for predictable non satisfactory experiences afterwards.
