UTILITARIANISM: BACKGROUND, BIOGRAPHY AND A SKETCH OF THE THEORY
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A brief overview of Classical Utilitarianism and its central ideas
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The expert provides a brief overview of classical utilitarianism and its central ideas.
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CLASSICAL UTILITARIANISM:
Main proponents:
Jeremy Bentham
John Stuart Mill
{Note that I use the term,
CLASSICAL UTILITARIANISM; COMPARE: IDEAL UTILITARIANISM; PREFERENCE UTILITARIANISM}
CLASSICAL UTILITARIANISM: THE BASIC IDEA
? Morality is not a matter of pleasing God, or being faithful to a set of abstract rules.
? Morality is just the attempt to bring about as much happiness as is possible in this world (cf. Rachels 2003, p. 92).
? According to the Classical Utilitarian, then, there is only one fundamental law of morality.
THE PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY
Jeremy Bentham on Utility:
"By the Principle of Utility is meant that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency which it appears to have ... to promote or to oppose that happiness."
? According to the Principle of Utility, there is only one criterion that ...
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