Bentham

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BenthamsUtility Calculus

• Presented by Seth L. Blumberg
• ENG 3060 003
• Spring/Summer 2009

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A universal ethical recipe

• The utility calculus (a.k.a. felicific calculus)
  claims to be a universal recipe for determining
  the right thing to do in any situation.
• It takes the form of a quasi-mathematical
  algorithm, with variables to which no actual
  numbers can be assigned.
• Utility f (Intensity, Duration, Certainty,
  Nearness, Fecundity, Purity, Extent)

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Jeremy Bentham

• Late 18th/early 19th Century English philosopher
• Wrote about philosophy of law and government
• One of the founders of Utilitarianism
• Invented the utility calculus

Source Wikimedia Commons, painting by William
Henry Pickersgill (National Portrait Gallery,
London UK)
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Utilitarianism

• Ethical system based solely on consequences of
  actions
• Greatest good for the greatest number
• Utility total good or evil tendency of an
  action
• Bentham identified good with pleasure, evil with
  pain

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The utility equation
U ?i ?j (Iij Dij Cij Nij Fij Pij)

• Sum over all people (the is) extent
• Sum over all kinds of pleasure/pain (the js)
• Six variables for each kind of pleasure or pain
• Intensity Nearness (propinquity)
• Duration Fecundity
• Certainty Purity
• Positive for pleasure, negative for pain

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Using the calculus

• No guidance on assigning exact numbers
• Must anticipate every result of every act
• It is not to be expected that this process
  should be strictly pursued previously to every
  moral judgment. It may, however, be always kept
  in view(Bentham 1823, p. 31)

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Incommensurability

• The basic human goods are all equally and
  irreducibly basic none of them is subordinated
  as mere means to any of the others.
• The basic human goods are not abstract
  entities but aspects of the being of persons each
  of whom is distinct from and no mere means to the
  well-being of any other person.(Finnis 1984, p.
  89)

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Questions?
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References

• Bentham, J. (1823). An introduction to the
  principles of morals and legislation. 2nd ed.
  Oxford Clarendon Press.
• Finnis, J. (1984). Fundamentals of ethics.
  Washington, DC Georgetown University Press.
• Pickersgill, H. W. (n. d.) Jeremy Bentham,
  painting. Retrieved June 9, 2009 from Wikimedia
  Commons. http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileJeremy_
  Bentham_by_Henry_William_Pickersgill_detail.jpg