Principle of Utility and Key Philosophers

Flashcards covering the Principle of Utility, key figures like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, and essential concepts in utilitarian philosophy.

Principle of Utility

An act is morally right if it tends to produce the greatest happiness for the greatest number.

Jeremy Bentham

An 18th-century philosopher known for proposing the Principle of Utility and evaluating pleasures and pains.

Pleasures and Pains

Factors considered by utilitarians to assess the morality of an action based on its consequences.

Factors of Utility

The morality of an action can be measured by intensity, duration, certainty/uncertainty, nearness/remoteness, purity, and fecundity.

John Stuart Mill

A philosopher who built upon Bentham's ideas and brought a more nuanced view of utilitarianism.

Fecundity

The likelihood that a pleasure will be followed by other pleasures.

Purity

The extent to which a pleasure is not followed by sensations of the opposite kind, i.e., pain.