Singer, Bentham and Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism was initially a school of thought brought about by Jeremey Bentham throughout the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries. John Stuart Mill would later go on to shape it closer to the form we know today. On the surface the Utilitarian way of thinking seems simple: every action must be done for the sake of the greater good. However, as one digs deeper into this notion it is clear that this cannot be achieved by relying solely on a common sense approach to life. In the following paragraphs we will explore the history of Utilitarianism and those who formed it, how it is meant to guide life, and how it is relevant to life in the Twenty-first Century.
Jeremy Bentham spent most of his life focused on what he saw as failings in the justice system. He felt that there were “irrational and chaotic foundations” in the leadership of his time (Lawhead, p465). Bentham did not believe that morality was ingrained in every person from birth, or that moral laws were the same for everyone – and since there was no scientific proof of these things, things that the former government had come to regard as fact, Bentham dismissed them. What Bentham did believe was that pleasure and pain were experienced by each and every person, even if the sources were different. He also believed that achieving this pleasure was the end goal of every person. Even when a person does something that takes the pleasure of others into account, ultimately it is in order to indirectly promote their own pleasure. Therefore he came up with a method for calculating the amount of pain and pleasure that a situation created. Then, by adding up these amounts and determining which course of action provided the most pleasure, for all in the situation, he determi...

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... It is unlikely that society will be willing to respond to every situation with rationalization and logical thought – nor should they have to, for emotions have the power to give us a closer connection to the people surrounding us. Even if a person chooses to not make decisions based on Utilitarian logic, the principles are at least capable of opening a person up to the idea that their actions and decisions affect people other than themselves.

Works Cited

Bykvist, Krister. Utilitarianism: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Continuum, 2010. eBook.
Jamieson, Dale, et al. Singer and his Critics. Malden: Blackwell, 1999. Print.
Lawhead, William. The Voyage of Discovery. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2007. Print.
Mulgan, Tim. Understanding Utilitarianism. Stocksfield: Acumen, 2007. eBook.
Singer, Peter. Practical Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Print.