Utilitarianism
Consequences, welfare, and the greatest overall good.
Olive groves on Naxos (photo Bouke ten Cate, CC BY 4.0)
Origin
Formulated by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Central claims
- Acts are judged by their consequences for wellbeing.
- Each person’s welfare counts equally.
- Moral reasoning can be public and comparative.
Criticism
Critics object that aggregation can license injustice against individuals and that consequences are often unknowable.
Development
Utilitarianism emerged from legal and social reform, seeking a public standard for institutions rather than an ethics of private purity. Bentham made welfare countable; Mill tried to defend quality, individuality and justice within the same consequentialist frame.
Legacy
The tradition remains indispensable in policy, medicine and technology, precisely because its clarity about outcomes forces opponents to explain what should outrank welfare and why.
In their words
“Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.”
“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.”