Bentham's Theory Of Pleasure

British philosopher Bentham used felicific, or utility calculus to describe pleasure as “the only intrinsic good”, and pain as immoral. To illustrate, surgeon B applies Bentham’s moral arithmetic; and in a scale of one to ten, she assigns number nine to the pleasure derived from saving lives in a hospital, and number five to the pleasure of going to the opera and enjoying classical music. Bentham’s formula imply that all pleasures can be quantified and calculated with real numbers. However, if all pleasures can be quantified, then humans can easily attempt to equate two quantities to favor one specific act. How much needs to be done in situation A to equal the same amount of pleasure produced in situation B? In reality, Bentham’s theory leads

The term desirable in his proof shows that humans tend to seek what is intrinsically good like pleasure and happiness; however, desirable could also mean simply desiring anything else like robbing a bank. In this case, the act of stealing is immoral to begin with because it does not promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. A second case for surgeon B, what if she is acquainted with a healthy person with no one to miss him, and there are four patients desperately require organ transplants. The greatest happiness principle require that she accepts murder as a way to save the four lives instead of one because her act will promote the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people. Now, the act of murder is immoral regardless of circumstance because ultimately harvesting organs in such manners will lead to societal disorder, fear, and unhappiness among the majority of people. Utilitarianism hold that it is impermissible to cause pain just for the sake of pain; meanwhile, it is permissible to cause pain for the sake of greater

The practice of coal-mining negatively impacts the health and livelihood of all individuals, directly and indirectly. Science provided better tools and methods to find healthier resources and energy to decrease air pollution, global warming, and provide much greater and stable employment opportunities. The long-term effects promote the greatest amount of happiness on the greatest amount of people. Also, animals have natural tendency to seek pleasure, happiness, and protection; and experience pain. The rule of minimizing pain and increasing happiness apply to humans and other animals since it focuses on natural animalistic claims. Does this mean that omnivores and carnivores should feel guilty? As long as the act produces greater amount of happiness than the amount of pain, using animals while bearing in mind their intrinsic rights is