Jeremy Bentham and Utility Calculus

Utility: Refers to the state of being useful or beneficial; central to utilitarian thought.
Principle of Utility: Actions should aim for the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people, guiding ethical decision-making.
Ultimate Aim of Actions: Happiness is regarded as the ultimate end; hedonistic utilitarians view all desires as pathways to happiness.
Hedonism: Philosophy suggesting pleasure is the highest good and primary aim of human life.

Utilitarianism: Classified as a consequentialist philosophy, where morality hinges solely on the outcome of actions.
Consequentialism: Evaluates morality based solely on the consequences of actions taken.

Jeremy Bentham: Regarded as the "father of utilitarianism"; developed the utility calculus for assessing pleasure or pain resulting from actions.
Type of Utilitarianism: Bentham is recognized as a hedonistic and act utilitarian, focusing on individual actions rather than general rules.

Utility Calculus: A complex test to gauge the pleasure or pain an action may generate, facilitating the choice of actions that maximize happiness.
Egalitarian Nature: When utilizing the utility calculus, the happiness and suffering of individuals are treated equally; no individual's welfare is prioritized over another's.

Alternate Names: The utility calculus is also known as the Hedonic Calculus and the Felicific Calculus.
Assessment Criteria: Evaluates actions based on intensity, duration, certainty, remoteness, fecundity (potential to produce more pleasure), purity (likelihood of producing only pleasure), and extent (number of people affected).

Assumption of Universality: Criticized for presuming that individuals always seek happiness, illustrated by Nozik's experience machine thought experiment.
Exclusion of Animals: Lacks consideration of non-human animals within applied ethics.
Prediction Difficulty: Assessing the true consequences of actions proves challenging.
Complexity and Time: The process can be seen as overly complicated and time-consuming for practical application.

Experience Machine: A hypothetical scenario illustrating the debate on the intrinsic value of experiences versus mere happiness; challenges the assumption that happiness is the only aim of life.