Happiness-Maximizing Consequentialist Theory
A Happiness-Maximizing Consequentialist Theory is a consequentialist theory that uses a human-happiness utility function (in which human happiness has intrinsic value and should be maximized).
- AKA: Utilitarianism, Greatest Happiness Principle.
- Context:
- It can range from being an Act Utilitarian Theory to being a Rule Utilitarian Theory.
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- Example(s):
- Counter-Example(s):
- See: Libertarian Belief System.
References
2012
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism
- QUOTE: Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness". It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can only weigh the morality of an action after knowing all its consequences. Two influential contributors to this theory are Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
Utilitarianism was described by Bentham as "the greatest happiness principle".[1]
Utilitarianism can be characterised as a quantitative and reductionist approach to ethics. It is a type of naturalism.[2] It can be contrasted with deontological ethics (which do not regard the consequences of an act as a determinant of its moral worth), pragmatic ethics, virtue ethics (which focuses on character) and deontological varieties of libertarianism, as well as with ethical egoism and other varieties of consequentialism.
- QUOTE: Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness". It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can only weigh the morality of an action after knowing all its consequences. Two influential contributors to this theory are Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
<references>
- ↑ AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PRINCIPLES OF MORALS AND LEGISLATION, Jeremy Bentham, 1789 (“printed” in 1780, “first published” in 1789, "corrected by the Author" in 1823.) See Chapter I: Of the Principle of Utility. For Bentham on animals, see Ch. XVII Note 122.
- ↑ C. L. Sheng; Qinglai Sheng (April 2004). A defense of utilitarianism. University Press of America. p. 170. ISBN 9780761827313. http://books.google.com/books?id=AZF_5t-PhbMC&pg=PA170. Retrieved 23 April 2011.