3.

The Greatest Happiness Principle states that an act is right if it promotes the
greatest happiness for the greatest number. For Bentham, “greatest” refers to the
quantity of pleasure measured through his “felicific calculus”; for Mill,
“greatest” must take into account the quality or kind of pleasure. (Utilitarianism)

The Greatest Happiness Principle states that an act is right if it promotes

the greatest happiness for the greatest number. As the utilitarianism of the
principle of utility which follows the belief that an act is good or morally right
if it promotes happiness and bad or immoral if it tends to produce pain or harm.
So, therefore the utilitarianism is the principle of happiness. Hence, in
utilitarianism an act is good or morally right if it produces greatest happiness to
the greatest number of people and bad or immoral if it produces more harm or pain
than benefits to the greastest number of people. So this explains why the
utilitarianism or the utilitarians would not care weather the actions is done out
of the deceptions, dishonesty, lie or manipulation as long as it produces maximum
benefits to many people. So, eto yung nagiging problema if we will simply follow
the utilitarianism. the time of Bentham and Mill, it really have a lot of followers
kasi parang naniniwala sila na yung philosophy ni Bentham kung saan what gives us
pleasure, gives us happiness ay kung ano ang moral. kaya kung titignan natin this
kind of philosophy is indeed influencial even in our time, nakikita and nararanasan
natin to when it comes to our decisions with our actions. most of the time iniisip
natin ang ibang tao kung makikinabang ba sila sa decision na ito like for intance
in this kind of thinking, in this kind of philosophy, nakita rin natin yan sa mga
batas na meron tayo. Gaya nga po ng sinabi niyo sir yung sa america, noong time ni
barak obama, nilegalize niya yung same sex marriage para daw sa mga tao, sa kung
ano yung magpapasaya sa kanila. Sa ibang bansa naman ay yung abortion, naging
legalize din ito kasi eto yung isa sa mga hinaing ng mga tao. So, sa utilitarian
parang hindi dahilan kung ito ba ay immoral or mali for as long as marami yung
magbebenefit yun ang susundin. Example na pweding nating gamitan for this is yung
the act of condemning a terorist to death is morally right, parang ito yung what is
good for the utilitarian or even sa war on drugs ni pres duterte, gusto nilang
patayin yung drug lord so that a lot of people will benefit from it kasi alam naman
natin na ang drugs ay maraming negative effects hindi lang sa mga mas nakakatanda,
pati na rin sa mga kabataan. kaya yung goal nila ay patayin yung terrorist o yung
drug lord para maraming mabebenefit na tao at kung titignan natin yung action
really produces equal benefits of greatest happiness to the greatest number of
people concern.

For Bentham, “greatest” refers to the quantity of pleasure measured through

his “felicific calculus”. Bentham believed that everything can be quantified. Gaya
nga po nung sinabi niyo sie, just as the thermometer measures the different degrees
of heat, so also the moral thermometer could also measures the degrees of happiness
or unhappiness at etong analogy na binigay niya sa atin na yung emphasis is on
quantity in his treatment of goodness and pleasure. Hedonistic or Felicific, is the
things that gives us pleasure or self seeking pleasure. it includes 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), and extent (how many people are affected). so
for Bentham, the intense the pleasure, the better. the longer it'll last, the
better. the more certain that it will happen, the better. the closure or the
propinquity that it will occur, the better. the greater the possibility or the
fecundity that it will be followed by another pleasure, the better. the purer the
pleasure, the better. the greater number of people that will benefits, the better.
So kung titignan natin sa mga bagay na nagbibigay satin ng pleasure, most of the
time are yung uhm sex and yung food. these are indeed measurable if we are to based
it in the hedonistic or felicific calculus of Jeremy Bentham and sinabi niya satin
na we should calculate carefully the amount of pleasure and the amount of pain that
any act will bring. so basically the formula of felicific calculus of Bentham goes
like this, happiness minus pain is equal to balance. so for Betham balance is the
basis of morality of an action. in other words for Bentham kung yung balance is in
favor of happiness then yung act is morally right at kung ito naman ay pabor sa
pain then it is a morally wrong. The basis of happiness is basically our act so
each action we take shloud promote the greatest good to the greatest number. so
magfofocus muna ito sa self if the things that gives you pleasure are indeed good
then at some point if we are following the hedonistic calculus, ito ay magiging
important kasi ito ay magpoproduce or ipopromote yung the greatest good to the
greatest number of people.
Principle of Utility: The best action is that which produces the greatest
happiness and/or reduces pain.
Greatest Happiness: We ought to do that which produces the greatest happiness
and least pain for the greatest number of people. *this is the summary of
utilitarianism ni Jeremy Bentham.

For Mill, “greatest” must take into account the quality or kind of pleasure.
Mill followed the philosophy of Bentham to some extent. Pero he disagreed with
Bentham's hedonistic calculus. he believed that happiness cannot be calculated on
the amount of pleasure and the amount of pain in a certain action. So Mill place
greater importance on the happiness of all rather on one's own happiness. *dito
naiiba or dito mas nadedevelop itong philosophy ng mga utilitarians in a sense na
this was develop na hindi lang nasusukat yung goodness, yung moral sa pansariling
kasiyahan. pero itong morality should be measured with the happiness of many
people. So, happiness must always be taken into consideration before making a
moral decision. that's why it is a qualitative in a sense na we are also using our
intellect so Mill advocated the principle that the right thing to do is to promote
greatest good for the greatest number and he argues that we must consider the
quality of the happiness, not merely the quantity. His view of theory of life was
monistic (*meaning* a teaching with only one essential substance or principle):
There is one thing, and one thing only, that is intrinsically desirable, namely
pleasure. In contrast to a form of hedonism that conceives pleasure as a
homogeneous matter, Mill was convinced that some types of pleasure are more
valuable than others in virtue of their inherent qualities. For this reason, his
position is often called “qualitative hedonism”. Many philosophers hold that
qualitative hedonism is no consistent position. Hedonism asserts that pleasure is
the only intrinsic value. Under this assumption, the critics argue, there can be no
evaluative basis for the distinction between higher and lower pleasures. Now, there
are two types of pleasure; yung lower pleasure which is the bodily or sensual
pleasure yung nararanasan thru senses and yung higher pleasure naman which is
intellectual pleasure dito pumapasok yung kay Mill na kung saan ginagamit natin ang
ating intellectual, sinusunod natin yung sets of rules.

*summary* Bentham and Mill see moral good as pleasure, not merely self-
gratification, but also the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
One is compelled to do whatever increases pleasure and decreases pain to the most
number of persons, counting each as one and none as more than one. In determining
the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people, there is no distinction
between Bentham and Mill. Bentham suggests his felicific calculus, a framework for
quantifying moral valuation. Mill provides a criterion for comparative pleasures.
He thinks that persons who experience two different types of pleasures generally
prefer higher intellectual pleasures, to base sensual ones.