Question

What is the principle of utility, and how does Bentham think it can be established? Does the principle of utility provide a reliable guide to our moral obligations? Defend your answer.

Answer 1

According to Bentham’s principle of utility, the righteousness of an action is maximised in so far as it promotes happiness or pleasure, and minimised as it tends to produce unhappiness or pain. Morality can therefore be established by calculating by measuring the consequences of its expected utility. In order to achieve this, Bentham proposed the “pleasure calculus”, an empirical method of calculating utility based on probability.

In my view, this principle does not provide a reliable guide to our moral obligations. Consider the case of protecting minority interests. An implication of this perspective is the rights of minority should not be protected if it serves the majority’s interests, because according to the calculator, the happiness of a large number of individuals would outweigh the unhappiness of a few.