Utilitarianism

The goal which utilitarian’s seek to promote does not depend on the existence of God, or a soul, or any other dubious metaphysical entity. Many people have thought that morality is incoherent without these religious notions. Utilitarian's just demand that the pursuit of human welfare or utility be done impartially, for everyone in society. Experience or sensation of pleasure is the chief human good. It is the one good which is an end-in-itself, to which all other goods are means.

Bentham on Utilitarianism

In 1776, Jeremy Bentham announced himself to the world as a proponent of utility as the guiding principle of conduct and law in A Fragment on Government. In An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation published 1789, he underlined the basic elements of classical utilitarian theory.

It was Bentham who first used the maxim 'Greatest Happiness of the Greatest Number'. Bentham used this maxim to maximize individual pleasure. Philosophers have also used Bentham's principle of utility to advance theories like Liberty, welfare, rights, state, and equality.

Utilitarian's see a positive correlation between freedom and pleasure. Freedom is about seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. However, the utilitarian understanding of Bentham does not make any distinction between different kinds of pleasure. For example, (1) Morning exercise gives me pleasure, and I should be free to do it every morning, (2) consuming alcohol gives me pleasure and I should be free to consume alcohol. The second example, of pleasure and freedom, is not accompanied by moral responsibility, because the pleasure of one person (alcohol addiction) can cause pain to several people.

Bentham's understanding of the utility of welfare refers to happiness which is understood as the net balance of pleasure over the pain that the individual experiences. According to this, in assessing how well-off someone in life, we should look at how happy he or she, that is to check the net balance of pleasure over pain in his/her life. A society that believes in equality will not worry much about how much resources individuals get, but whether or not these resources are instrumental in securing for each individual a level of satisfaction or happiness equal to everyone else.

The utility theory of Right has also popularized by Bentham. Bentham was dissatisfied with the random and unscientific character of legislation of his day and critical to the idea that significant and genuinely reforming legislation could be based on the traditional idea of 'right'. He argued that lawmakers should use what he called the 'principle of utility' to construct morally sound legislation. By utility, he meant that 'property in any object, whereby it tends to produce benefits, advantages, good and happiness. Utility principle also prevents the happening of mischief, pain, evil or unhappiness to the party concerned- if that party to be a community, then the happiness is the community if a particular individual then the happiness of the individual'. Bentham's principle of utility commands a state to maximize the utility of the community. The measure of a government is said to be dictated by the principle of the community. The measure of a government is said to be dictated by the principle of utility when it takes care of the greatest happiness of the community, rather than the happiness of some people.

Criticism

Bentham's principle of utility has heavily criticized for several reasons by liberals’ philosophers and others. Criticism of Benthamite principle of utility can summarize in the following point:

First, Bentham takes it for granted that each of us can evaluate our happiness.
Second, he assumes that this can also be made by those who are determining policy in a state.
Third, his principle assumes that this evaluation is quantitative; that is, happiness is something inside each of us that can be measured and represented by a single number.
Fourth, his principle assumes that the happiness of each person can be added to the happiness of other people, allowing us not only to compare the happiness of a person but also to add their 'happiness' together to get a total of happiness.

JS Mill on Utilitarianism

The utilitarian framework of Bentham was further enhanced by his disciple JS Mill in his work – On Liberty. JS Mill gave great significance to freedom as individuality in his understanding of the principle of utility 'in a sense grounded on the permanent interests of man as a progressive being'. For JS Mill, individuality was a precondition for the cultivation of the self.

JS Mill qualified utilitarianism with two considerations- (1) in applying the principle of utility, consideration has to be given both to the quality and quantity of pleasure, and (2) utilitarianism need not involve a radical break with traditional morality. Instead, normal rules of morality can be seen as the utilitarian thumb rule.

Mill's first qualification does not inflict any conflict. For example, eating bhelpuri on the streets provide pleasure to anybody. However, conflicts can emerge from second consideration. For example, a statement that 'honesty is the best policy'. It can result in greater pleasure as well as greater pain. Mill argued liberty is the principle that mediates such conflicts. Liberty or freedom for the mill is as valuable as an end in itself. This is not to say that even a wrong act is to be valued if it is freely chosen. What it indicates is freedom as an essential component of individuality. It is by virtue of the freely chosen actions that an individual is regarded as a worthy person.

Individuality enables a human being to choose rather than blindly follow accepted modes of behaviour, customs, and practices. Mill defends the principle of individuality against governmental interference and social tyranny. Mill draws the sphere of non-intervention in an individual life by distinguishing self-regarding activities and other-regarding activities. Self-regarding activities are those actions over which the individual is sovereign. Whether an action is other-regarding or is of concern to others depends on whether such action is harmful to others. However, boundaries between both can be blurred in certain instances. For example, addiction of an individual to alcohol is as much a self-regarding action as well as other regarding. Mill counter this by arguing that a self-regarding action cannot be viewed as other-regarding if it causes offence, it can be viewed so only if it causes injury. This exempts intervention in self-regarding action on the grounds of moral beliefs to the appropriate form of social behaviour.

The principle of utility is justified by many political philosophers and theorists to advance their theory. They all justified their theories because of their utility in bringing about greater happiness to a greater number of people. Utilitarianism is a form of 'consequentialism' because of its two claims: first, that human happiness and well-being are important; and second, that we assess an act purely by its consequences. Both Jeremy Bentham and James Mill believed that the consequences one should consider were the happiness and unhappiness that one's actions would cause. Hence, the state of affairs that results in the greatest happiness of the greatest number is supreme. And greatest happiness of greatest numbers not always related to each individual but for the state, liberty, equality, rights, or welfare of the whole community. There could be instances wherein unqualified utilitarianism would lead to a situation where the greatest happiness of the greatest number is based on the sacrifice of an individual's rights.