UTILITARIANISM

yooˌtĭlĭtrˈēənĭzəm, yootĭˌ–, in ethics, the theory that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by its usefulness in bringing about the most happiness of all those affected by it. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism, which advocates that those actions are right which bring about the most good overall. Jeremy Bentham identified good consequences with pleasure, which is measured in terms of intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and extent. John Stuart Mill argued that pleasures differ in quality as well as quantity and that the highest good involves the highest quality as well as quantity of pleasure. Herbert Spencer developed an evolutionary utilitarian ethics in which the principles of ethical living are based on the evolutionary changes of organic development. G. E. Moore, in his Principia Ethica (1903), presented a version of utilitarianism in which he rejected the traditional equating of good with pleasure. Later in the 20th cent., versions of utilitarianism have been propounded by J. J. C. Smart and R. M. Hare.

See J. J. C. Smart and B. Williams, Utilitarianism (1973); A. Sen and B. Williams, ed., Utilitarianism and Beyond (1982).

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The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright© 2004, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. All rights reserved.

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Questia Books and Articles on: Utilitarianism
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books on: Utilitarianism  - 6340 results

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1.
Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill
Book by Frederick Rosen; Routledge, 2003
Subjects: Justice (Philosophy), Liberty, Utilitarianism
...logical consequence of the morality of utilitarianism. In rejecting it we reject that morality...the key assumptions of the post-utilitarianism paradigm, which are foreign to classical utilitarianism, are (a) the rejection of the utilitarian...
2.
Utilitarianism
Book by Geoffrey Scarre; Routledge, 1996
Subjects: Ethics, Utilitarianism
...David 1982 On the refutation of utilitarianism, in Harlan B. Miller and H. Williams eds , The Limits of Utilitarianism , Minneapolis: University of...Glover, Jonathan ed. , 1990 Utilitarianism and its Critics , New York...
3.
Utilitarianism, Institutions, and Justice
Book by James Wood Bailey; Oxford University Press, 1997
Subjects: Institutions (Philosophy), Justice (Philosophy), Utilitarianism
...that can hardly be a problem with utilitarianism. In a venal oligarchy, of course...political procedure is justified by utilitarianism, Bernard Williams asks another question: given that utilitarianism has justified a world in which...
4.
Secular Utilitarianism: Social Science and the Critique of Religion in the Thought of Jeremy Bentham
Book by James E. Crimmins; Clarendon Press, 1990
Subjects: Bentham, Jeremy--1748-1832--Religion, Christianity And The Social Sciences--History, Great Britain--Religion--18th Century, Great Britain--Religion--19th Century, Religion And The Social Sciences--History, Utilitarianism
...2 The term theological utilitarianism was coined by W. H. Lecky and later...to have assumed that before Bentham utilitarianism as a school of thought in England...temperaments and purposes. Theological utilitarianism, though significant, represented...
5.
Utilitarianism
Book by John Stuart Mill; Longmans, Green and Co., 1901
Subjects: Utilitarianism
CHAPTER II. WHAT UTILITARIANISM IS. A PASSING remark is all...the philosophical opponents of utilitarianism, for even the momentary appearance...of the common charges against utilitarianism : and, as has been pointedly...
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journal articles on: Utilitarianism  - 1444 results

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1.
Utilitarianism and the Disabled: Distribution of Life
Journal article by Mark S. Stein; Social Theory and Practice, Vol. 27, 2001
Subjects: Disabled persons--Social aspects, Equality--Social aspects, Utilitarianism--Moral and ethical aspects, Welfare--Distribution
Utilitarianism and the disabled: distribution of...appeal, even to many opponents of utilitarianism. In the distribution of life between...order distributive principle of utilitarianism is to distribute resources to the...
2.
Utilitarianism: An Ethical Framework for Compensation Decision Making
Journal article by John A. Hollingsworth, Ernest H. Hall Jr., Robert J. Trinkaus; Review of Business, Vol. 13, 1991
Subjects: Business ethics--Analysis, Compensation management--Moral and ethical aspects, Utilitarianism--Moral and ethical aspects
Utilitarianism: an ethical framework for compensation...the use of the ethical system of Utilitarianism as the proper standard to be used...Bentham, 1789; Brandt, 1959). Utilitarianism has been defined by Barry (1979...
3.
Foreword: Terrorism and Utilitarianism: Lessons from, and for, Criminal Law
Journal article by Paul Butler; Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 93, 2002
Subjects: Criminal law--Social aspects, Terrorism--Moral and ethical aspects, Utilitarianism--Analysis, World Trade Center and Pentagon Attacks, 2001--Social aspects
Foreword: terrorism and utilitarianism: lessons from, and for, criminal...our criminal justice system on utilitarianism. I make the same moral critique...compelling reasons to embrace utilitarianism, especially in extreme cases...
4.
Feeling Our Way to the Common Good: Utilitarianism and the Moral Sentiments
Journal article by Christoph Fehige, Robert H. Frank; The Monist, Vol. 93, 2010
Subjects: Conduct of life--Analysis, Morality--Analysis, Sentimentality--Analysis, Sentimentality--Ethical aspects, Utilitarianism--Analysis
...Feeling Our Way to the Common Good: Utilitarianism and the Moral Sentiments. by Christoph...moral sentiments and the doctrine of utilitarianism that have received so much attention...people feel that they should not. Utilitarianism, however, says that they should...
5.
Hutcheson, Smith, and Utilitarianism
Journal article by Maria A. Carrasco; The Review of Metaphysics, Vol. 64, 2011
Subjects: Economists--Works, Ethics--Analysis, Hutcheson, Francis--Works, Philosophers--Works, Scottish enlightenment--Analysis, Smith, Adam (Scottish economist)--Works, Utilitarianism--Analysis
Hutcheson, Smith, and Utilitarianism. by Maria A. Carrasco IN 1787...prevent it from sliding into utilitarianism--to which Hutcheson (and...system easily leads towards utilitarianism while Smiths TMS--given the...
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magazine articles on: Utilitarianism  - 300 results

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1.
Gender, Utilitarianism & Poland: 100 Years of Women and Urban Agriculture
Magazine article by Anne Camilla Bellows; WE International, Spring 1998
Subjects: Agriculture, Eastern Europe, Gardens & gardening, History, International, Poland, Sexes, Urban agriculture, Women
Gender, Utilitarianism Poland: 100 Years of Women and Urban Agriculture by Anne Camilla Bellows Gender, UTILITARIANISM POLAND: 100 Years of Women and Urban Agriculture by Anne Camilla Bellows Metropolitan and state interests in Poland manipulate...
2.
John Stuart Mill's "Very Simple Principle": Wherever There's a Debate over Gay Marriage, Free Speech, or Even Smoking in Public Places, the Arguments John Stuart Mill Made in on Liberty Are Still in the Thick of the Action
Magazine article by Christopher Clausen; The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 33, Spring 2009
Subjects: Freedom--Political aspects, Individual and society--Political aspects, Liberty--Political aspects, Mill, John Stuart--Works, On Liberty (Mill, John Stuart) (Nonfiction work)--Authorship, Philosophers--Works, Utilitarianism--Management
...centuries. His starting point is utilitarianism--the doctrine that the greatest...for morals and legislation. Modern utilitarianism had been largely formulated by the...theory of ethics and government, utilitarianism retains considerable influence, which...
3.
Inside and outside Our Machines
Magazine article by Danlel Harris; The Antioch Review, Vol. 58, Winter 2000
Subjects: Computers--Influence, Digital computers--Influence, Futurism (Art)--Influence, Technology--Analysis, Utilitarianism--Analysis, Virtual reality--Portrayals
...tomorrow. The false aesthetics of utilitarianism play upon the consumers ignorance...conventions. The false aesthetics of utilitarianism, the attempt to give our appliances...ostensible usefulness, the aesthetics of utilitarianism are remarkably impractical and are...
4.
Grist to the Mill
Magazine article by Bee Wilson; New Statesman, Vol. 129, October 23, 2000
Subjects: Mill, John Stuart--Conduct of life, Philosophers--Food and nutrition, Utilitarianism--Philosophy
...beneficial. Pleasure and pain are also the stuff of classical utilitarianism, whose broad aim was to maximise the one and minimise the...thought. But it might cast yet further doubt on the kind of utilitarianism which proposes that happiness consists in leaving the lower...
5.
The Limits of Expertise
Magazine article by William Davies; Renewal : a Journal of Labour Politics, Vol. 16, 2008
Subjects: Brown, Gordon, Component parts, Economic models, Foreign policy, Local elections, Political parties, Political systems, Politics, Society
...essay, is with a politics in which utilitarianism has burst its limits. The limits of utilitarianism In 1994, Tony Blair wrote a pamphlet...misunderstanding of whats at stake. Utilitarianism as technique To begin to understand...
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newspaper articles on: Utilitarianism  - 60 results

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1.
The Naval Academy's Ethical Mill
Newspaper article; The Washington Times, August 8, 1999
Subjects: Singer, Peter
...Stewart Mill - the 19th century philosopher, who gave us "utilitarianism" as a guiding moral principle. In a previous letter...ethics" essay. The midshipman used a brand of the "utilitarianism" philosophy now associated with John Stewart Mill to evaluate...
2.
MEMORY BUILDING; Hirshorn Reveals Architectural Slant of Nonagenarian's Autobiographical Sculpture
Newspaper article; The Washington Times, March 8, 2009
...suggests an arcade or a large table, the kind of abstracted utilitarianism now embraced by sculptors like Martin Puryear. According...suggests an arcade or a large table, the kind of abstracted utilitarianism now embraced by sculptors like Martin Puryear. NO CREDIT...
3.
A Precipice Election?
Newspaper article; The Washington Times, October 15, 2006
...Churchill and Josef Stalin defeated fascism, a collectivism and utilitarianism of the right. In the world war against Soviet communism, a leftist collectivism and utilitarianism, Truman laid the foundation for opposing its expansion and Reagan...
4.
Maternal Health and HB 5043
Newspaper article; Manila Bulletin, October 18, 2008
Subjects: Abortion--Reports, Contraceptives industry--Reports
...and thus appears purely positivistic. Positivism, results in agnosticism in theory and utilitarianism in practice and in ethics. Utilitarianism is a civilization of production and of use, a civilization of things and not of persons...
5.
Many So-Called Conservatives Share Whoopi Goldberg's Vision of Life
Newspaper article; The Washington Times, January 1, 1996
...or more repulsive - assertion of the philosophy of moral utilitarianism and of the theology of universal salvation. Let us consider...himself." Decisively breaking with this understanding, utilitarianism reduces God to irrelevance by setting each man up as his...
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encyclopedia articles on: Utilitarianism  - 20 results

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1.
Utilitarianism
Encyclopedia article; The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2009
UTILITARIANISM yoo tilitr e niz m, yooti , in ethics...happiness of all those affected by it. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism, which...1903), presented a version of utilitarianism in which he rejected the traditional...
2.
Sidgwick, Henry
Encyclopedia article; The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2009
...The basis of his thought was British utilitarianism. Analyzing the intuitionist and utilitarian...common sense rests on the principles of utilitarianism. In The Methods of Ethics (1874...systems based on intuitionism, and utilitarianism, and egoism, he concluded that intuitionism...
3.
Mill, John Stuart
Encyclopedia article; The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2009
...which they had worked together. His Utilitarianism was published in 1863, and Auguste...simpler conception of quantity (see utilitarianism ). He constantly advocated political...repr. 1979); J. Riley, Liberal Utilitarianism: Social Choice Theory and J. S...
4.
Bentham, Jeremy
Encyclopedia article; The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2009
...philosopher, jurist, political theorist, and founder of utilitarianism . Educated at Oxford, he was trained as a lawyer and was...won Bentham recognition throughout the Western world. His utilitarianism held that the greatest happiness of the greatest number...
5.
Great Britain
Encyclopedia article; The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2009
...advocating laissez-faire , appeared in 1776, the same year as the first publication by Jeremy Bentham , the founder of utilitarianism. The cause of reform, however, was greatly set back by the French Revolution and the ensuing wars with France, which...
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