The felicific calculus, ALSO KNOWN as Pleasure and Pain CALCULUS is an

algorithm (mathematical calculations) formulated by JEREMY BENTHAM (1747–

1832). It is used to determine the degree or amount of pleasure that a specific
action is likely to cause. Bentham, is a utilitarian philosopher whose background
on ethical principles was founded on the hedonism. He believed the moral
rightness or wrongness of an action to be a function of the amount of pleasure or
pain that it produced. The felicific calculus could, in principle at least, determine
the moral status of any considered act. The algorithm is also known as the utility
calculus, the hedonistic calculus and the hedonic calculus.
To be included in this calculation are several factors 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?

Bentham’s Utilitarianism: Theory, Scope & Criticisms

Humans have grappled with the question of good and bad since gaining
conscience. Ethics is that branch of philosophy which deals with defining,
organising and recommending concepts of right or wrong conduct. Ethics seeks to
define concepts such as good and evil, virtue and vice and justice and crime to aid
our understanding of human morality.

Jeremy Bentham is considered as the father of Utilitarianism. Bentham was an

English philosopher born in 1748 into a family of lawyers and lived during a time
of major social, political and economic change. He himself was a lawyer, though
he never practiced the profession. While he was in the process of joining the
profession, he became dissatisfied with the British law and took it upon him to
reform the system. In an Introduction to the Principles of Morals and
Legislation published in 1789, Bentham wrote “Nature has placed mankind under
the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone
to point out what we ought to do”. This formed the starting point of his inquiry
and the foundation for his theory.

Principle Of Utility

Bentham forwarded the principle of utility which formed part of the family of
consequentialist ethical theories, which evaluated the actions of an individual on
the basis of its consequences.  Bentham was avant-garde in focusing on the
consequences of the behavior instead of on the intent behind the behavior. He
considered intentions to be irrelevant and believed that good actions would result
in good consequences. He proposed that the most important consideration
should be the pleasure and pain quality arising from the consequences of our
actions. Simply put, an action can be characterised as good if it results in pleasure
and bad if it results in pain. The principle of Utility is an action that is commended
or condemned according to whether it produces benefit, advantage, pleasure,
good or happiness or prevents mischief, pain or unhappiness.

However, the principle of utility is different from egoism which endorses pleasure
of oneself. Utilitarianism provides that one should pursue pleasure not just for us
but for as many sentient beings as possible. Bentham stated that “We should act
always so as to produce the greatest good for the greatest number”. A utilitarian
would therefore sacrifice their pleasure for the pleasure of the group.

Bentham created the utilitarian calculus to aid in the calculation of pleasure or

pain. The individual action is to be judged on 4 elements namely, intensity,
duration, certainty and propinquity (whether the pleasure will come soon or will
it be a delayed pleasure). Further, in order to calculate for actions classified as
certain types then two more elements needed to be included namely fecundity
(does the action have any secondary pleasures) and purity (does it have any
secondary pains). Moreover, when considering actions for groups one more
element is added and that is extent (number of people affected).
Bentham did not believe in the concept of interest of the group. He instead held
that the interest of groups is the sum of the interest of the individual and that
groups do not exists independent of the individuals. Moreover, he proposed that
as the main consideration of the theory is suffering, all persons are equal when
calculating the pleasure attached to the action.

Criticism

There have been a number of criticisms of Bentham’s principle. The principle as

expounded by Bentham came to be regarded as Act-utilitarianism or classical
utilitarianism.

One objection to the principle was that it justified any crime and even made it
morally compulsory in order to achieve the satisfaction of pleasure for the
greatest number. Bernard Williams presented a thought experiment as a criticism
which involved Jim a botanist faced with the choice of killing one prisoner for the
release of others or death of all 20 prisoners.  He rejected the theory on the basis
that any system that exacts immoral acts and reduces moral decisions to mere
algorithms is incompatible with morality. He cited that utilitarianism requires the
killing of the prisoner. The trolley thought experiment which involved deciding
between killing one or five persons by throwing a switch to divert a trolley car and
physician thought experiment which required a physician to kill one healthy
person to save the life of five terminally ill patients by preforming organ
transplant demonstrate that the theory in a manner justifies any criminal activity
(e.g. genocidal murders) or endangering life for the benefit of others.

Another complaint presented was that the theory is impracticable. The theory
assumes that an individual has sufficient time, information and knowledge to
calculate the consequences of an act, evaluate their worth and make comparison
with other alternative acts before taking actions.

Alternatively, a critic stated that the theory failed to recognise other motivations
that guide human action. By focusing the theory on simple pleasure and pain
devolves human thinking to animalistic needs. As a corollary Karl Marx, in Das
Kapital, criticised utilitarianism on the grounds that the principle failed to afford
attention to the phenomenon that people from different socioeconomic context
perceive joy differently. Furthermore, Pope John Paul II argued that
“Utilitarianism is a civilization of production and of use, a civilization of things and
not of persons, a civilization in which persons are used in the same way as things
are used”. Therefore, utilitarianism tended to make people similar to objects of
use.

A prominent criticism was the failure of the principle to distinguish between the
well-being of strangers and that of known persons. Therefore, the principle
ignores our special obligations. Any act where one prefers a close relative over a
stranger shall be an immoral act under utilitarianism. Roger Scruton criticises that
theory does not give duty a place inside our ethical judgements.  Peter Singer, a
modern day utilitarian, answers that “the question however, is not what we
usually do, but what we ought to do, and it is difficult to see any sound moral
justification for the view that distance, or community membership, makes a
crucial difference to our obligations”. Furthermore, some critics have raised
‘demandingness objection’ which states that the combination of equality with the
greatest good for greatest number places unreasonable demands on an
individual. The huge number of people and the indefinitely many opportunities to
make sacrifices to help them would require a person to sacrifice a lot and remain
in a constant state of hardship and self-denial. According to Hooker this is
wasteful as such sacrifice shall only result in a slight increase in the aggregate
good.

Developments of the theory

J.S. Mill, a student and ardent follower of Bentham, rejected the proposition that
all pleasures are the same and can be compared. This emanated from Bentham’s
failure to distinguish between pleasure and happiness and defining them as the
same thing. Mill in his modification of the principle of utility proposed different
‘levels’ of pleasure and recognised that some pleasures were more desirable and
valuable than others.

G. E. Moore proposed ‘ideal utilitarianism’ where he rejected a purely hedonistic

character of utilitarianism and argued for the incorporation of a range of values
that may be maximized to attain pleasure. He argued against the proposition that
pleasure was the only consideration to evaluate morality.
A number of philosophers proposed ‘rule- utilitarianism’ to rescue Bentham’s
theory. The theory incorporates the use of rules to aid in the choice of the right
action. This modification is purposed to remove the failings arising from
calculating the consequences of each and every action resulting in an individual
selecting an inferior alternative. Therefore, ‘rule- utilitarianism maintains that an
action is right if it conforms to a rule that maximizes utility’

R. M. Hare in 1981 proposed an alternative theory named ‘preference

utilitarianism’. He explained the theory as “By this I mean the principle that, in
deciding what is good and what is bad for a given individual, the ultimate criterion
can only be his own wants and his own preferences.”. The principle unlike
Bentham’s utilitarianism which focuses on actions maximising pleasure,
preference utilitarianism focuses on promoting actions which fulfill the interest of
the individual person or being involved. However, critics have pointed out that
the theory fails to consider the views of persons not holding the agency to make
preferences like animals or children.

Conclusion

Utilitarianism has profoundly impacted the modern society and its laws.
Utilitarianism was radical in the sense that it is a theory that is aimed at defining
one simple basis that can be applied when making any ethical decision. Criticism
has not diminished its importance. It is important to understand utilitarianism as
it forms the basic tenants of legal theory and function of laws. It assists in
developing policies by examining their consequences and ensuring it touches the
greatest number of people. The theory informs debates on social issues and is the
foundation for the modern animal rights campaign.

To summarize the Pleasure Theory and the Utilitarianism based on my simple

understanding...
Pleasure theory started with the Hedonists such as Aristippus and Epicurus,
ancient philosophers who conceptualized the "personal" pleasure theory known
as Hedonism. Notice that "intensity and duration" are the two basic requirements
of Aristippus signifying that the Pleasure should by in its maximity, to indicate
the  measure of quality  of pleasure one has to experience. For Aristippus, Pleasure
is intrinsically good. Epicurus on the other hand, focuses on the 'other side' of the
Hedonism theory, the "avoidance of pain", to emphasize moderation and passive
control of sensation that would indicate the Real Pleasure to experience. For
Epicurus, this leads to the virtue of Prudence. Both philosophers advocated the
theory of pleasure in "personal" sense exemplifying the ethics of egoism. 
Jeremy Bentham is known as the father of Utilitarianism. He believed that
pleasure should be measured "quantitatively"... communal in meaning and not
simply on personal level. He is also branded as an ethical hedonist because in his
Calculus of Pleasure and Pain, he included the two basic requirements of
Aristippus, intensity and duration, and then expanded the requirements with 5
more circumstances to calculate Pleasure and Pain: certainty,  propinquity,
fecundity, purity, and extent. His theory is also known as "QUANTITATIVE
UTILITARIANISM".
John Stuart Mill is highly influenced by his own father (James Mill) and Jeremy
Bentham. To distinguish his theory from that of Bentham, he qualifies  pleasure
aside from its usual measure of utility of quantification. To improve your
understanding on this matter, I strongly suggest that you read pages 210-212 of
your book.
In the context of Mill's theory, we can now distinguish pleasures' different forms
such as:

 pleasure in taking a bath

 pleasure in reading assignments and learning
 pleasure in eating your favorite food
 pleasure in helping others
 pleasure in taking a good night rest
 pleasure in traveling
 pleasure in jogging and keeping oneself healthy
 pleasure in getting the highest score in the exam
 pleasure in having a fine dining
 pleasure in being educated
and many other forms of pleasure we may have experienced in the past.