The Prinicple Of Utility

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Term Paper Title	The Prinicple Of Utility
# of Words	2190
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	8.76

The Prinicple Of Utility

                                                           The Principle of Utility                                      A.

Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832)
There are two main people that talked about the principles of utility and they were Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.  First off I’ll talk to you about Mr. Bentham.  It is helpful to see Bentham’s moral philosophy in the context of his political philosophy, his attempt to find a rational approach to law and legislative action.  He argued against “natural law” theory and thought that the classical theories of Plato and Aristotle as well as notions such as Kant’s Categorical Imperative were too outdated, confusing and/or controversial to be of much help with society’s ills and a program of social reform.  He adopted what he took to be a simple and ‘scientific’ approach to the problems of law and morality and grounded his approach in the “Principle of Utility.”

                    The Principle of Utility
1. Recognizes the fundamental role of Pain
and Pleasure in human life.

2. Approves or disapproves of an action on the
basis of the amount of pain or pleasure brought
about (“consequences”).

3.Equates the good with the pleasurable
and evil with pain.

4.Asserts that pleasure and pain are capable
of “quantification”-and hence of measure.

     As with the emerging theory of capitalism in the 18th and 19th Century England, we could speak of “pleasure” as “pluses” and “pains” as “minuses.”  Thus the utilitarian would calculate which actions bring about more pluses over minuses.
     In measuring pleasure and pain, Bentham introduces the following criteria:
It’s intensity, duration, certainty (or uncertainty), and its nearness (or fairness).  He also includes its “fecundity” (more or less of the same will follow) and its “purity” (its pleasure won’t be followed by pain & vice versa).  In considering actions that affect numbers of people, we must also account for their extent.
     As a social reformer, Bentham applied this principle to the laws of England-- for example, those areas of the law concerning crime and punishment.  An analysis of theft reveals that it not only causes harm to the victim, but also, if left unpunished, it endangers the very status of private property and the stability of society.  In seeing this, the legislator should devise a punishment that is useful in deterring theft.  But in matters of “private morality” such as sexual preference and private behavior, ...

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