Bentham describes the principle of utility as being ‘The greatest good for the greatest number,’ believing this would create happiness, an intrinsic key to life. Therefore Bentham views utilitarianism in terms of individuals and how certain actions affect that individual. This concept is based on freedom of actions as Bentham rejected deontological theories such as the ethics of Immanuel Kant or traditi

Preference Utilitarianism was developed by R.M.Hare, who ‘suggested that utilitarianism is the philosophical counterpart of the Christian virtue of agape (selfless) love, by which we should seek the good of others impartially.’ Hare is the best established prescriptive philosopher and believed that morals are not just expressions of opinion but actual commands. He believed that in any situation, the preference of the individual involved must be taken into account and entered into the Hedonic Calculus unless the preferences are conflicting then they would cancel each other out. Hare thought the best way to deal with any situation was to ‘maximise the satisfaction of the preferences of all those involved. He is attempting to escape the idea of one definition of happiness, which Mill and Bentham shared. In his book he states that if we take into account all preferences then we will cease the imposition of one kind of happiness which not everyone shares.

onal Christian ethics. He supposed people should be at liberty to act how they judge right or otherwise there is no valid morality. Utilitarian principles were put into action in such things as Victorian prison reform: considering it made sense for criminals to have an education in order to improve society as a whole. Sewage disposal materialised from this theory. This led to a decrease in deaths and in people not going to work thus reducing the amount of people on poor relief. Although expensive ideas, they were beneficial in the long term and after thirty or forty years, paid for themselves. Consequently this had a direct impact and has changed millions of peoples lives, both now and then. Bentham regarded everything in a utilitarian way: instead of being cremated, which he could see no benefit in, he left instructions to be dissected in front of two hundred students for their anatomical assistance. His body was then kept on display as a reminder to people of the absence of God and the afterlife and that people should live their lives to the maximum. As a result of utilitarianism, Bentham believed honesty was not intrinsically good but was in fact an instrumental value leading to happiness.

Through this theory, Bentham developed ‘The Hedonic Calculus.’ This is the concept that human pleasures and pains are quantifiable, therefore actions can be judged right or wrong on the basis of moral arithmetic. The mathematics involved correspond to the amount of pleasure or pain and/or pain the actions contain. Bentham admitted that the experience of pleasure is complex and that pleasures are rarely completely ‘pure.’ As a result most actions have both pleasurable and painful elements within them. He developed this in his calculus. To a person considered by himself, the value of pleasure or pain considered by itself will be greater or less, ac

Some topics in this essay:
Hedonic Calculus, Capital Punishment, Immanuel Kant, Hedonic Calculus’, Abortion Acts, Motive Utilitarianism, Jeremy Bentham, Preference Utilitarianism, Methods Ethics, Firstly Bentham’s, mill believed, pleasure pain, physical pleasures, principle utility, motive action, intellectual physical pleasures, intellectual physical, instrumental value, pleasure mill, intelligent human, physical ones,