The History of Utilitarianism - Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's History of Utilitarianism article.

Utilitarianism

A form of consequentialism that holds the moral quality of actions/policies depends on their consequences, aiming to maximize the overall good (often the total or average happiness).

Consequentialism

The moral theory that judges actions by their outcomes or consequences.

Impartiality

The feature of utilitarianism where every person’s happiness counts equally; no one’s welfare is weighed more than another’s.

Agent-neutrality

The obligation to promote the overall good applies equally to everyone, not just to a particular agent.

Act-utilitarianism

Evaluating each individual action by its own consequences to determine rightness.

Rule-utilitarianism

Evaluating actions by the consequences of following general rules or policies.

Proto-utilitarianism

Early non-modern theories that anticipate utilitarian ideas (e.g., Mozi, Śāntideva).

Theological utilitarianism

Utilitarianism grounded in divine or theological considerations, where happiness is related to God’s will or divine purpose.

British Moralists

Early precursors to utilitarianism (Cumberland, Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, Gay, Hume) who influenced later utilitarian thought.

Moral sense theory

The view that moral judgments arise from an intrinsic sense of virtue or moral perception, often tied to motives and sentiments.

Dignity of persons

The principle that persons have intrinsic worth and should be treated with respect; can constrain mere numerical aggregation.

Lying (Hutcheson’s example)

A case illustrating how moral judgment (moral sense) can differ from consequences; motives and general benevolence shape approval or disapproval.

Bentham

18th–19th century founder of classical utilitarianism; proposes the principle of utility and a quantitative, calculative approach to pleasures and pains.

Hedonic calculus

Bentham’s method for measuring the value of actions via seven variables: intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and extent.

Greatest Happiness Principle

Bentham’s core standard: actions are right if they tend to promote happiness and wrong if they produce the opposite.

Mill

19th-century utilitarian who modified Bentham by introducing qualitative differences in pleasures and stressing internal sanctions and rights.

Higher vs. lower pleasures

Mill’s claim that intellectual/qualitative pleasures are preferable to mere sensual pleasures.

Internal sanctions

Emotions like guilt or remorse that regulate behavior from within and support utilitarian motivation.

Publicity requirement

Sidgwick’s claim that some utilitarian conclusions might justifiably be kept esoteric to prevent misuse; a form of elitist prudence.

Ideal Utilitarianism

Moore’s view that value includes intrinsic goods beyond pleasure (e.g., beauty), not reducible to happiness alone.

Principle of Organic Unity

Moore’s idea that wholes can have intrinsic value greater than the sum of their parts, especially in appreciating beauty.

Sidgwick

19th-century philosopher who argued utilitarianism has theoretical primacy among methods of ethics and analyzed total vs. average utility.

Total utility vs. average utility

Sidgwick’s discussion about whether to maximize total happiness or average happiness, including population considerations.

Godwin

William Godwin’s secular utilitarianism; anarchist critique of government; justice as the production of the greatest quantity of general good; impartial.