Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is the moral principle witch only concerns the consequences of the moral situation. A person's ethical choice he or she has to make is the one that maximizes pleasure and minimizes pain of the community. Notice the community, this means that it doesen't soley depend on the individual's happiness but the hapiness of as many as possible. Jeremy Benthem is the man responsible for the ideals behind utilitarianism, However it was David Blume who invented the term. Hume believed it is good for an action to have utility in the sense that it makes yourself and others happy, but he never developed that idea into a complete moral theory, Bentham howver, used the term to create a moral system for the new age. How do we induct this theory into an ethical situation? Through Benthams hedonistic calculus. The hedonistic calculus states that we must investigate all aspects of a proposed consequence - it's intensity, duration, certainty or uncertainty, propinquity or remoteness, fecundity, purity and remoteness, and it's extent. These aspects are then assighned value depending on the how they apply to the situation. They are then added up to determine how to act in the situation. There are a few problems with benthams hedonic calculus. For example, he never gave us any numerical values to add or subtract, which means we have to come up with the values. I believe that utilitarianism is a great outlook for life and the choices you make. Every descion you make should optimize your happiness. One thing that Bentham should have included in his theory is a division beween pleasure and happiness. Happiness is more of a long term state of being, pleasures tend to be more instant.