Utilitarianism — An ethical doctrine formulated by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill: the morally correct action is that which maximizes the happiness (or well-being, pleasure, preferences) of the greatest number of people. The principle of utility is the single and supreme criterion of moral evaluation. Mill refines: pleasures differ in quality (intellectual pleasures are superior to bodily ones). Utilitarianism is consequentialist: what matters are outcomes, not intentions or rules as such.
← Glossary