• Utilitarianism belongs to a theory in morality

that can be labeled as consequentialist.

• An ethical theory is consequentialist when it
puts primary consideration and emphasis on
the effects or results that an act or conduct
brings rather than on the motive or intention
that the agent may have.
• Unlike the natural law ethics, utilitarianism
plainly disregards the act itself as the basis of
morality. Consequentialist looks into the
outcome of the act – what solely matters is the
result of the deed, not the deed itself.
• Different from natural law and deontological
ethics (duty ethics).
 CONSEQUENTIALIST WILL ASK
• What good will come from doing this?
• What benefit can one get in performing such
an act?
• What harm would come if a particular action is
done?
• Who will stand to gain if this action is
performed?
• In utilitarian ethical theory, no action in itself
can be considered or called as good or bad,
right or wrong, apart from its outcome or end.
• Actions, for them, do not have intrinsic moral
value.
• As a consequentialist
ethical theory,
utilitarianism believes that
actions are morally
significant and valuable
only inasmuch as they
produce what is desired or
expected from them.
• Thus morality has only an
instrument value – it is
merely a means to an end.
 ETHICAL HEDONISM
(PLEASURE-ORIENTED)
• Another significant characteristic
of utilitarianism is its emphasis
on the pleasure and
happiness/contentment that one
can get from doing an act or from
a particular course of action.
• This would also show that it
abhors pain or unhappiness as
possible effects in the
• Pain and suffering should be avoided when
one is thinking about doing something.
• If a proposed act results to unhappiness than
happiness, pain than pleasure, harm than
good, then it has to be rejected or avoided.
 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE
PRINCIPLES OF MORALS AND
LEGISLATION
• Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), one of the most
prominent advocates and founders of
utilitarianism.
“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, as well also determine what we
shall do.”
• For utilitarianism, right and wrong, are
dependent on the pleasure or pain.
• If an act produces pleasure, it is considered
right or good; if it results to pain, it is
considered wrong or bad.
 “No body in his right mind inflict pain.
Pain or unhappiness is something we all avoid.”
 PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY
• Itwas Jeremy Bentham who
specifically coined the phrase
“principle utility” (thus, the
term utilitarianism) to denote
that the essentially determining
element whether an act can be
good or right is its utility or
usefulness (value) – to bring
about desirable results or
consequences (understood as
pleasure or happiness).
• The term “utility” is usually equated with
pleasure or happiness, which the utilitarians
consider as the only objective moral standard.
• Having utility we usually mean that it serves
some purpose or function. Ex. Ballpen-writing.
• But to aim at good and desirable consequences
or results does not make one automatically as
a utilitarian.
• Utilitarianismas expounded by Mill and
Bentham, aims at consequences, which are
good, that everybody (or the general public)
wants, and this is happiness or pleasure –
known as “happiness theory”.
THE GREATEST GOOD FOR THE GREATEST
NUMBER
• Utilitarianismis so appealing to a lot of people
because of its special emphasis on the social
dimension of morality. This is where the theory
becomes so influential.
• Utilitarianism offers a more practical alternative than
the other ethical theories (Ambong, 2012). Ex. Political
system – ruled by the few vs. The pursuit of the
general welfare
• The utilitarian famous phrase, “the greatest good
for
the greatest number” was originated from a Scottish
philosopher Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746).
 BENTHAM’S HEDONIC CALCULUS

• “Hedons” is a Greek term means pleasure,

calculus is a science of calculation.
• Bentham considered this method as scientific,
as it employs the exact science of mathematical
equation.
• Its aim is to arrive at a definite basis of when
to say that an act or conduct is right or wrong,
good and bad.
• The main goal of Bentham – “to help
individuals as well as lawmakers and
legislators decide what ought to be done in any
given set of circumstances.”
• In ethical or moral decision-making, what
matters in the end is the maximization of
pleasure or happiness and the minimization if
not the total eradication of pain or suffering.
 THE HEDONIC CALCULUS

•Intensity – the more intense the pleasure

the better. Not all pleasure is the same. Some
pleasure are stronger or are more intense than
the others.
•Duration – the longer the pleasure lasts, the
better . Pleasures also vary as to how long they
last. There are long-term pleasure and there
are also pleasures that are short-lived.
•Certainty – the more certain the pleasure the
better. One should ask how likely or unlikely it is
that the expected pleasure will actually result.
•Propinquity – the nearer, closer or more often
that pleasures occur, the better. The soonest the
expected pleasure will occur, the better.
•Fecundity – the greater the possibility that
the pleasure that one can derive from an act
will be followed by more pleasures, the better.
Ask how likely it is that the action will result to
more pleasure in the future.
•Purity – the purer the pleasure, the better. If
there is an accompanying pain or discomfort
in the process, look for an alternative act that
will bring about unadulterated kind of
pleasure.
•Extent – the greater the number of people
can experience pleasure, the better. Here, one
should consider how many other individuals
would be affected by the act.
• In the hedonic calculus (giving a fixed
numerical value to each of the seven elements,
say from one to ten; one signifies the lowest
while ten the highest) the amount of pleasure
is deducted from the amount of pain to arrive
at the balance.
• For Bentham then, when we are confronted
with a certain act or course of conduct, the
proper ethical approach is to calculate
carefully the amount of pleasure and the
amount of pain that any act will bring.
 TWO KINDS OF
PLEASURES : QUANTITY
VS. QUALITY
• Bentham’s formulation of
hedonic calculus to provide a
quantitative calculation of the
value of different pleasures
where decisions are made into
a simple exercise of addition
and deduction.
• However, his student John
Stuart Mill develops his own
• Mill introduces a way of determining pleasure
that is not just confined to quantity or amount
but more on its quality.
• He claims that pleasures are of two types:
quantity and quality.
• He says that pleasure of the mind or the spirit
are higher than pleasure of the flesh and of the
body. Persons should seek the higher pleasure
than just pursue the lower kind of pleasure.
 “It is better to be a human being
dissatisfied than a pig satisfied: better to be
Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.”
John Stuart Mill
• Mill values not so much the amount of
pleasure that one can get out from one’s action
but the particular type of pleasure that follows
from it – its quality.
• Humans belong to a higher level of creatures
whose concerns are not just limited to the
pursuit of brute satisfaction but also have that
capacity to discriminate the kind of pleasure
that is worthy of their own dignity as thinking
and rational beings.