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

 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)

 Late 18 th /early 19 th 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)

 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

U = ∑ i
∑ j
( I ij
+ D ij
+ C ij
+ N ij
+ F ij
+ P ij
)
 Sum over all people (the i ’s) — extent
 Sum over all kinds of pleasure/pain (the j ’s)
 Six variables for each kind of pleasure or pain:
Intensity
Duration
Nearness
Fecundity
(propinquity)
Certainty Purity
 Positive for pleasure, negative for pain

 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)

 “[T]he basic human goods are all equally and irreducibly basic; none of them is subordinated as mere means to any of the other s….
 “[T]he 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)

Bentham, J. (1823). An introduction to the principles of morals and legislation.
2 nd 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/File:Jeremy_Bentha m_by_Henry_William_Pickersgill_detail.jpg