1.

Jeremy Bentham comes up with a moral philosophy based on what he calls “the

greatest happiness principle” or “the principle of utility”. According to his moral

philosophy, the principle of utility “approves or disapproves of every action

whatsoever according to the tendency which it appears to have to augment or

diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question: or, what is the same

thing, in other words, to promote or to oppose that happiness.” This happiness is

determined by the presence of pleasure and absence of pain to the greatest number of

people. To this, he emphasizes that this principle applies to “every action

whatsoever”. By this, he implies that any action that does not maximize the greatest

happiness to the greatest number of people is morally wrong while those actions that

maximize the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people are morally right.

2. Jevons utility argues that utility can be measured indirectly by the observable

effects of a feeling, as consumers react to price changes. However, this view faces

criticism as it presupposes cardinal measurement. Jevons' belief was that economic

relationships follow mathematical laws through an intricate succession of

relationships.

Jevon’s major criticism is that he wrongly identified marginal utility with marginal

demand and market price and said very little about pricing. He also treated each

individual’s utility as a function of a single commodity rather than all the

commodities involved in a person’s consumption habits

 3. Whereas utility is interpreted to mean both personal wellbeing and satisfaction of

wants, some elements of Bentham’s utility maximize pleasure but not wellbeing. For

instance, sugary foods such as cakes and candy maximize pleasure due to their sweet

taste but are not good for teeth and overall body health. 

Sen defines utilitarianism by dividing it into three distinct components; welfarism,

sum-ranking, and consequentialism. As he explains, equal wellbeing may not be

achieved as equal wellbeing in reality as people differ in body size, metabolism, and

even the social environment. A good instance of an option that maximizes wellbeing

but not pleasure is taking a plain diet that promotes health wellbeing but is not

pleasurable in terms of taste (consider a diet consisting of herbs).

An instance when one might consider choosing an option that neither maximizes

wellbeing nor pleasure is when one is only after survival. Such a choice is further

enhanced by having the freedom of choice between alternatives.

4. 4. Utility maximization predisposes one to maximize utility by seeking the highest

satisfaction out of economic decisions. This means that one seeks to acquire the goods

that will offer the highest satisfaction out of the limited acquisition resources.

Adam and Eve’s act of eating the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden against God’s

commands lead to the dual gaining the knowledge of good and evil. Consequently,

they were exiled from the garden.

Their desire to eat the forbidden fruit may have been caused by a desire to maximize

their utility by gaining the knowledge of good and evil. Given that the fruit was a free
good (they didn’t have to pay for it), eating it implemented utility maximization.

Adam and Eve also acted out of their rationality to choose the number of forbidden

fruits that they needed to maximize utility as well. This depicts the choice to eat the

forbidden fruit as utility maximizing.