THE PRINCIPLE OF

UTILITY
• The principle of utility states that actions or behaviors are right
in so far as they promote happiness or pleasure, wrong as they
tend to produce unhappiness or pain.

• We also experience pleasure when we perform certain

intellectual activities,
Examp: reading a philosophy textbook, playing guitar, or drawing
a picture. We sometimes, but not always, experience pleasure
when we do the right thing. We experience pain when these
functions are left unfulfilled.
• Many utilitarians believe that pleasure and pain are objective
states and can be, more or less, quantified.

• Hedonistic terms like intensity, duration, fecundity, and

likelihood, imply that pleasure can be measured quantitatively,
perhaps on a scale from 1-10, as part of a hedonistic calculus.
• Classical utilitarians are altruists to the extent that they believe
that the standard of right or wrong is not the agent's own
greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness for
the greatest number of people

• The "Good" increases the number of persons

experiencing pleasure among members of a specific
group.

• The "Bad" increases the number of persons experiencing

pain.
• A classical utilitarian would have to examine how that
expenditure would effect everyone in the community. This
determination entailed calculating beforehand the amount
of pleasure and pain that the various members of the
community would experience as a result of building those
stadiums; then decide whether the benefits (pleasures)
outweigh the costs (pains)? Of course the primary pain.

• The fundamental problem for utilitarianism is justifying the

altruistic principle of self-sacrifice in order to benefit
others.
• It is possible for an act to provide a large amount of
quantifiable pleasure for a few persons at the cost of a small
amount of quantifiable pain for everyone else.

• Example, we have a small, but significant number of homeless

children that could be helped by imposing a small tax on
everyone in Cincinnati. A utilitarian would not be able to justify
imposing that tax, unless it could be shown that more people
are helped than harmed

•.
• One way to get around this would be to count not only the number of
persons that experience pleasure and pain, but also weigh the
intensity, duration, fruitfulness, and likelihood of the pleasures
involved.

• The problem with this approach is that at any given time, many
individuals might benefit from a specific policy.

• Utilitarianism assigns weight to particular pleasures and pains, rather

than merely count heads, then we would be obligated provide benefits
to a host individuals and minorities, regardless of need.
• Jeremy Bentham(1748-1832)

• "I ought to do that act which bring about the greatest happiness (pleasure) for the
greatest number of persons(community)

• Pain and Pleasure indicate what we ought to do and determine what we shall do.

• Pleasure as"pluses"

• Pain as "minuses"

• Thus, the utilitarian would calculate

which actions bring about more pluses
over minuses
• In measuring pleasure and pain of the situation Bentham introduces the following
criteria

• The Hedonic calculus

intensity-how strong it is
duration-how long it is
certainty-how likely it could be
propinquity-when it could arrive
fecundity-if it will cause further pleasure
purity-how free from pain it is
extent-how many people are affected
• John Stuart Mill-(1806-1873)"it is better to be a human being
dissatisfied that a pig satisfied; better Socrates dissatisfied than a fool
satisfied"For Mill it is not the quantity of pleasure but the quality of
happiness

• Bentham's calculus is unreasonable-qualities cannot be quantified

( there is a distinction between "higher" and "lower" pleasures)Mill's
utilitarianism culminates in "The greatest happiness principle".
• The central idea of utilitarianism
morality depends on pleasure
and pain
• The action is right if it produces the greatest good
for the greatest number

• An action is said to have good(positive) utility

when augments happiness more than it
diminishes it maximizing benefits and minimizing
harms