Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is a race of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness in addition to well-being for any affected individuals.

Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different characterizations, the basic conviction behind all of them is, in some sense, to maximize utility, which is often defined in terms of well-being or related concepts. For instance, Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism, identified utility as "that property in any object, whereby it tends to realize benefit, advantage, pleasure, good, or happiness...[or] to prevent the happening of mischief, pain, evil, or unhappiness to the party whose interest is considered."

Utilitarianism is a representation of average utilitarianism or the usefulness of the people worst-off should be maximized.

Though the seeds of the idea can be found in the hedonists Aristippus as living as Epicurus, who viewed happiness as the only good, in addition to in the earn of the medieval Indian philosopher Śāntideva, the tradition of contemporary utilitarianism began with Jeremy Bentham, and continued with such(a) philosophers as John Stuart Mill, Henry Sidgwick, R. M. Hare, and Peter Singer. The concept has been applied towards social welfare economics, the crisis of global poverty, the ethics of raising animals for food, and the importance of avoiding existential risks to humanity.

Etymology

Benthamism, the utilitarian philosophy founded by Jeremy Bentham, was substantially modified by his successor John Stuart Mill, who popularized the term utilitarianism. In 1861, Mill acknowledged in a footnote that, though Bentham believed "himself to be the first grownup who brought the word 'utilitarian' into use, he did non invent it. Rather, he adopted it from a passing expression" in John Galt's 1821 novel Annals of the Parish. However, Mill seems to have been unaware that Bentham had used the term utilitarian in his 1781 letter to George Wilson and his 1802 letter to Étienne Dumont.