Ethics

2. Normative Ethical Theories: Utilitarianism 2.1 Content Utilitarianism • Utility • The Hedonic Calculus • Act Utilitarianism • Rule Utilitarianism 2.2…

Here is a set of possible exam questions you could face. For guidance on how to write essays, try my book…

To what extent, if any, is Utilitarianism a good theory for approaching moral decisions in life? (30/40 Grade B) Below is…

Utilitarian ethics is an empirical theory which aims to measure the likely future consequences of an action (hence consequentialism) in terms…

Utilitarianism is an empirical philosophy (requiring a calculation) derived from the idea that pleasure or happiness is the one intrinsic good….

Utilitarianism © Peter Baron 2025 This handout is a much reduced summary of the detailed treatment of three forms of utilitarianism…

Hedonistic utilitarianism – calculating consequences by measurable pleasure Note: the acronym PRRICED can be used to remember the seven criteria of…

Bentham (1748-1832) Mill (1806-1873) Empirical (measure goodness a posteriori) Hedonistic (pleasure based) Consequentialist Act utilitarian Empirical (against the intuitionists) Eudaimonistic (happiness…

Peter Baron analyses and evaluates Bentham’s Hedonic Act Utilitarian ethics. Bentham's act utilitarianism from Peped  

An exploration of what Mill might have meant by weak rule utilitarianism (not his terminology) Utilitarianism Mill from Peped Utilitarianism Mill…

An exploration of Peter Singer’s Preference Utilitarianism. Preference utilitarianism from Peped   Preference utilitarianism from Peped

Next (2007) There’s a nuclear bomb somewhere in LA and Nicholas Cage’s character is the only person who can help. He…

Claus von Stauffenberg Few of us will ever find ourselves in a position to kill one to save the many: the…

Click here for Roger Crisp’s excellent podcast on Bentham and Mill, explaining the hedonistic view of Bentham and Mill. Can we…

David Pearce reviews Brave New World on www.huxley .net J.J. Smart produces the example of a pleasure machine in his book…

The Ones that Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin Adapted from Louis Pojman's summary (2002) page 128.  (The film…

Daniel Jacobson defines the multilevel approach like this: Multilevel theories distinguish between an intuitive and a critical level of moral thinking….

Wordsworth's The Happy Warrior as an alternative concept of happiness. Martha Nussbaum argues that Wordsworth's The Character of the Happy Warrior…

Paradoxes of the Utilitarian position The historian David Newsome explains the legacy, and the paradoxes, of the Utilitarian position – still…

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics-and-philosophy/24-231-ethics-fall-2009/lecture-notes/MIT24_231F09_lec16.pdf

Mill was deeply influenced by Aristotle.  It could be argued that Mill’s definition of happiness, which embraces goals, expectations and activity,…

The Buddhist idea of happiness is radically different from western views, which tend to equate happiness with development of self or…

source Williams, “A Critique of Utilitarianism” First, some preliminaries: It’s important to be clear about what views Williams’ argument, and the…

source Singer, “Is Act-Utilitarianism Self-Defeating?” Act-Utilitarianism (AU): An act is right if an only if it would have the best consequences,…

source Rawls, “Two Concepts of Rules” Act-Utilitarianism: An act is wrong if and only if it would fail to produce as…

Here is a very clear discussion by T.Campbell of two classic utilitarian dilemmas.  A runaway trolley is heading towards twenty men…

Bentham and Singer Emilie Dardene University of Reims In this paper I would like to compare two forms of utilitarianism: the…

For a fascinating more advanced article on Bentham’s views of sexual ethics click below: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01440360902765415#tabModule

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was a London based moral, political and legal philosopher. He was predominantly interested in a comprehensive reform of…

To understand Bentham's moral philosophy we need to grasp three things: first, he thought pleasure was the only intrinsic good, and…

To understand Bentham's moral philosophy we need to grasp three things: first, he thought pleasure was the only intrinsic good, and…

Bentham held that there are advantages to a moral philosophy based on a principle of utility. To begin with, the principle…

John Stuart Mill was a philosopher, social reformer, parliamentarian (Liberal MP from 1865-8), and campaigner for women's rights.  He was also…

Mill begins Utiltarianism by making a case for hedonism (pleasure-seeking): "Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong…

Mill accepted Bentham's idea that the greatest happiness principle is the basic statement of moral value: " Actions are right in…