![]() The 18 th Century was also paradoxically the Age of Enlightenment and an era of political and ideological revolution throughout the world, such as shown in both the American and French revolutions.īentham’s creation of utilitarianism reflects this social context, his teleological ethical theory being overtly simple, and thus accessible, in its foundation, enabling intellectuals and the uneducated alike to follow and benefit from it.īentham’s theory of Utilitarianism purposely excludes religion due to its inherently enigmatic qualities ![]() The lower classes suffered terribly from exploitation and lack of significant rights whilst the upper classes enjoyed luxury. īentham created this philosophy in response to the feudal and highly stratified society of 18 th Century England. the one that would produce the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. He took this principle, naming it the ‘principle of utility’, and applied it in order to determine, he felt, the most moral outcome to situations, i.e. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) first envisioned the concept of Utilitarianism when he came across the expression ‘the greatest good of the greatest number’ in Priestley’s ‘ Essay on Government’. pleasure, something that occurs naturally. The goodness of an action is defined in terms of natural properties i.e. Goodness of actions depend on the circumstances there are no fixed moral principles. An action is deemed ‘good’ if it brings about good consequences. ![]() It looks at the consequences of actions, not the actions themselves. It looks at what your ethical action is aimed at bringing about, rather than deontological ethics which focuses on the intrinsic rightness or wrongness of actions. ![]()
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