This just means that the act is correct as long as it brings happiness to the greatest amount of people. Sidgwick and Bentham believed in similar views and are seen as act utilitarians. Act utilitarianism is when you have to decide what action would bring about the greatest good so it depends on the consequences of the action so the rightness or wrongness of something can be changed. Rule utilitarianism believes that rules should be created by using utilitarian principles
So Mill was all about how much quality the pleasure brings. Bentham, however believed that pleasure and happiness was measured in quantity not quality. He measure this using the hedonic calculus Jeremy Bentham created the hedonic calculus to provide and easy and clear way to identify what result would generate the most amount of pleasure and least amount of pain. The hedonic calculus measured the possible consequences of an action. Bentham was an act utilitarian; this is when each action is judged individually.
It also breaks down motivation into three different categories: intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation. Intrinsic motivation is the most self-determined form of motivation and behavior (McDavid, Cox, & Amorose, 2012). Intrinsic motivation is a person doing something for themselves because they enjoy it or makes them feel better. Extrinsic motivation is less self-determined and behavior occurs due to reasons outside the action (McDavid, Cox, & Amorose, 2012). An activity done by extrinsic motivation may not be done because a person enjoys it, it’s often done because they want the end outcome.
That is, living a moral life by accessing God’s will through reason and employing it through the practice of virtues. Locke argues that such an imperative ability to use reason is only unlocked when exposed to pleasure and pain, hence, the hedonistic intent maintained by addicts is foundational in the development of a moral compass. Of course, that is not to say drug use is an ethical way of doing so. Yet, under this perverse argument, the self-condoning of drug use could be understood. Via the same logic, drug craving is an addiction that aims to heighten self-esteem and thereby uphold human sociality which fosters the common good and therefore goodness, justifying it as a “habitual and firm disposition to do good” (CCC 1803) – a virtue.
When you get down to the core concepts humans are selfish in that they only care for themselves. Thus we do not engage in act of generosity without intentions of self-gain. We help the disabled to raise our self-image. We help tutor a fellow student not just to help them improve, but as we’ll make ourselves feel superior. Although we might not show our selfish intentions we become arrogant and full of ourselves.
The various forms present two major problems; the problem of justice, and the issue of having to predict the consequences of an action. One variant within utilitarianism is Hedonistic or Classic utilitarianism. Which looks at the view ‘what is good for an individual is what tends to promote happiness or pleasure to the individual’. This holds that the only intrinsic good is pleasure, and that the only intrinsic bad is pain. Everything else is good only insofar as it creates pleasure, and bad only insofar as it creates pain.
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory of morality that follows the “Greatest Happiness Principle” for judging whether an action is morally right or wrong. This principle states that an action should bring the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people. Here, happiness is the primary good that is intrinsically good in itself. A utilitarian would describe happiness as the presence of pleasure and the absence of pain. Therefore, a morally right action would be one that provides more pleasure than pain to the greatest number of people.
Then once you purchase your object of choice and you take it home you can't help but admire it. It's a beautiful feeling, right? Pampering yourself is a prominent, undeniably important step in self appreciation, but remember to look good for yourself, not for others. We will always be criticized, but those who hate are irrelevant. We only have one life, so why spend it hating it?
Bentham founded the principle of utility, which states that an action is right if it “produces the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people.” Bentham believed good is the maximization of pleasure and the minimization of pain, and that the greatest good is the greatest pleasure that creates the less pain overall for the majority. There are two main types of Utilitarianism act and rule. Bentham is known as the Act utilitarian. Act utilitarianism is when making a moral decision the best or most moral action we can perform is one that will enable to bring the best consequences for the majorities’ happiness. For example a man has the choice to shoot one person and save thousands or walk away and let thousands die.
“Utility is found in everything which contributes to the happiness of every rational being” (Utilitarian Philosophy, 2010). In very simplistic terms, utilitarianism can be described as the balancing of good outcomes over harmful ones for greatest number of people. In other words, it is the greatest happiness for the greatest number of individuals (LaGrone, 2015). The concept of utilitarianism emphasizes the fact that a human being’s actions are right when they increase the good. In one of the abstracts in Bentham’s Principles of Morality and Legislation, Bentham states that the judgement or criterion of good and evil is balanced between the happiness of individuals and the happiness of the community (Utilitarian Philosophy, 2010).