Utilitarianism

How it is used

Associated with Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Key distinctions are act versus rule utilitarianism and hedonistic versus preference utilitarianism. It is the best-known form of consequentialism. A follower is a utilitarian.

Example sentences

1. Classical utilitarianism counts everyone's happiness equally.

2. Critics say utilitarianism can ignore individual rights when the numbers are large enough.

Common collocations

• act utilitarianism
• rule utilitarianism
• classical utilitarianism
• the greatest happiness principle

Related terms

• consequentialismThe view that whether an action is right or wrong depends only on its consequences, so the best action is the one with the best outcome.
• deontologyA family of ethical theories holding that some actions are right or wrong in themselves, because of duties or rules, whatever their consequences.
• ethicsThe branch of philosophy that studies right and wrong, good and bad, and how we ought to live and treat one another.
• virtue ethicsAn approach to ethics that focuses on good character and virtues such as courage, honesty and practical wisdom, rather than on rules or consequences.

More terms: Ethics and Moral Philosophy

• morality
• relativism
• normative
• metaethics
• moral realism