GE-8 Ethics | Module 16 | Utilitarianism | The Life of

Jeremy Bentham, | Principle of Utility, | Common

Good, | The Life of John Stuart Mill, | The Greatest
Happiness Principle, |
Reminder: Please be reminded that the distribution of modules in this subject is
through the CEAS office, made to be available for copying only maybe by a
xerographic copier. This shall be available only on the first (1 st) and third (3rd)
Monday of the month during the entire period of the semester.
(For BSIS, BSME, and BSHM exclusive use)
June 20, 2021

I. Warm-up:
For 2-5 minutes ponder on these questions: (you may write on a sheet of paper)
1. Are you ever told to stop watching television and do something else? Is
2. this good for you? Why?
3. Do you have convictions or beliefs you would not want to sacrifice for the greater
good, should you ever be forced to?
4. When it is justifiable to impose the death penalty law?

II. Learning Objectives:

At the end of the lesson the students must be able to, to wit;
1. Articulate the meaning of consequentialist ethics.
2. Discuss the basic principles of utilitarianism.
3. Analyze the greatest happiness principle.
4. Evaluate ethical decisions from the point of view of utilitarianism.

III. Input

Pertinent Terminologies

Consequentialist
The moral value of an action or event is determined entirely by the consequences of
that event.

Utilitarianism
Is an ethical theory that argues for the goodness of pleasure and the determination of
right behavior based on the usefulness of the actions consequences.

Utility
Bentham defined it as “that property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefit,
advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness or to prevent the happening of mischief, pain,
evil, or unhappiness”.

Felicific Calculus
Is a common currency framework that calculates the pleasure that some actions can
produce.

To be included in this calculation are several variables (or vectors), which Bentham

called "circumstances". These are:
1. Intensity: How strong is the pleasure?
2. Duration: How long will the pleasure last?
3. Certainty or uncertainty: How likely or unlikely is it that the pleasure will occur?
 4. Propinquity or remoteness: How soon will the pleasure occur?
5. Fecundity: The probability that the action will be followed by sensations of the same
kind.
6. Purity: The probability that it will not be followed by sensations of the opposite kind.
7. Extent: How many people will be affected?

Objection: "Happiness is pleasure" is a doctrine worthy of swines.

According to Mill:
● pleasures can be distinguished not only quantitatively, but qualitatively as well.
● It turns out that those who are equally acquainted with both higher and lower pleasures
prefer the former.
● the best explanation of this preference is that humans have a sense of dignity in some
proportion to their higher faculties, and that dignity is an essential component of
happiness, so that any pleasure conflicting with it is rejected.

Jeremy Bentham
o An English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer regarded as the founder of
modern utilitarianism. Bentham defined as the "fundamental axiom" of his philosophy
the principle that "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the
measure of right and wrong."
o Born: 15 February 1748, Houndsditch, London, United Kingdom
o Died: 6 June 1832, Westminster, London, United Kingdom

John Stuart Mill

o Usually cited as J. S. Mill, was an English philosopher, political economist, and civil
servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he
contributed widely to social theory, political theory, and political economy. 
o Born: 20 May 1806, Pentonville, London, United Kingdom
o Died: 7 May 1873, Avignon, France

Related Discussions

The Principle of Utility

The principle rests on the psychological hedonism. It claims that by nature, every
human being seeks to attain pleasure and avoid pain. According to Bentham, pain and
pleasure tend to be the masters of mankind. In other words, all men move to action by
the attraction of pleasure and the repulsion of pain. The principle of utility is sometimes
called the greatest happiness principle. For Bentham, utility means any property in any
object, whereby it tends to produce benefit, advantage, pleasure, good or happiness or
that which prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil or unhappiness to the party
whose interest is considered. Pleasure means not only in terms of eating and drinking
but also include the pleasure of reading, listening to music and so on.
A certain action is right (right action) if it tends to increase the sum total of
pleasure or diminish the sum total of pain of the party. When a moral agent makes a
decision whether a certain action is right or wrong, he has to make an estimation
(approximation) of the amount of pleasure and the amount of pain. The value of the
estimated amounts will depend on four (4) factors (dimensions of value) namely,
intensity, duration, certainty or uncertainty, propinquity or remoteness. With regard to
action whether the action will produce pleasure or pain, for Bentham there are two (2)
factors which one has to consider that is, fecundity (productiveness) and purity. Example
for purity, love of art should not lead to vandalism. But if the community is involved or will
be affected by the decision making the moral agent must consider the seventh (7th)
factor which taking into account the number of persons who will be affected by the
pleasure or pain.

Community is a fictitious body composed of individual persons constitute it as its

members. The interest of the community is the sum of the interests of the several
members who composed it. According to Bentham, the degree of conduciveness to the
greater happiness of the greatest possible number of human beings or members of the
society should be the measure of utility of legislation and of the political institutions.
There are many actions which can be useful to the community but do not promote the
public interest. Hence, the law and the government should be directed and conforming to
the common good. In times where individual and private notion of happiness clashes
with the other, according to Bentham harmonization must be needed in order to attain
the interest of the common good. It is in here where the government and the legislation
do its function. In the common good every private interest has a stake. Thus, education
can help the individual understand that in acting for the common good, he is also acting
for his own good.

The Greatest Happiness Principle

According to the British proponent and ethical philosopher John Stuart Mill:
"Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to
produce the reverse of happiness. " (Utilitarianism, 1987)
Science cannot dictate what consequences are to be preferred. Utility (The Greatest
Happiness Principle) is a principle of conduct which prescribes that actions are right only
in so far as they promote the general happiness, or greater happiness of the greatest
number. Actions are wrong if they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. It is not a
definition in which the logical function of the word "right" must be fully explained. In other
words, utilitarianism for Mill is rather a way of life rather than a moral theory. Morality for
him should be an art of individual and social happiness.

Happiness is universally recognized to be a good. It is the ultimate end which all

desire and seek. But things which originally sought and used as a means to pleasure
according to Mill, can be sought for its own sake because (as long as associated to
pleasure) it is sought not as a means to pleasure or happiness but already as constituent
and part of it. Happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain. Unhappiness
means pain, and privation of pleasure. It is not a philosophy of egoism because
happiness base on Mill definition does not pertain to the agent's own greatest happiness
but the greatest amount of happiness altogether. Each person's happiness is a good to
that person, and the general happiness, therefore, is a good to the aggregate of all
persons. In other words, the one which is desirable is the general happiness. If the
general happiness is related to my happiness as a whole to a part, in desiring the
general happiness I am desiring my own. Happiness is the harmonious satisfaction of
the desires of the individuals. A large part of it depends upon the satisfaction of his
social impulses and other regarding sentiments. According to Mill, a life of personal
pleasure-seeking is self-frustrating. He has concluded that happiness is not attained by
seeking it directly. One finds by stiving it after some goal other than one’s own
happiness or pleasure. The firm foundation of the utilitarian morality is to be found in the
social feelings of mankind. These social feelings can be described as the desire to be in
unity with our fellow creatures.

From the foregoing, we can immediately discern a sense of the end justifies the
means approach and tendency to this particular school of thought. And that claim will be
bolstered by the fact that to the utilitarian’s, the act would always be moral and ethical;
so long as the consequences of the act benefited the large number of people. The moral
focus of this theory is the act itself of the agent, but primordially on the consequences,
 results, and end-product of the actions. As one of their central beliefs stated, “the
greatest good for the greatest number”. This moral theory as contrast to the Kantian
ethical School based on morality of their actions, not on the goodness of the act itself,
but on the benefits or the good results or the favorable consequences of the said
actions. Notably, the Utilitarians do not bother themselves whether the act is moral or
not, their only consideration is: will it benefit “the greatest number” of the population
of the people. That is there only condition. Undeniably, this particular moral theory is
“result-oriented” or they are depended on the favorable consequences.

It must be noted that for Mill, pleasure is not all the same. According to him,
some kinds of pleasures are more desirable and more valuable than others. For him, it
would be absurd to suppose that pleasure only depend on quantity. Thus, in order to
show this, he gave us his famous phrase that “it is better to be a dissatisfied human
being than a satisfied pig, and/or, better to be dissatisfied Socrates than a satisfied fool”.
It is also interesting to note that the other name of this moral theory is, The
Consequentialist Ethical School of Thought.

FREDDIE R. COLLADA,
INSTRUCTOR 1