Act Utilitarianism

•  Benthams starting point for utilitarianism was his belief that everyone wanted to be happy 
• happiness is the 'sovereign good'
• he states that "nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters: pain and pleasure" = humanity is motivated by avoidance of pain and desire for pleasure
• bentham act utilitarianism takes a teleogical approach and believes morality should be based on th outcome of an action and not the action itself 
• the one guiding principle is the 'principle of utility' 

• It is based on a phrse by Joseph priestly "the greatest happiness of the greatest measure" 
• the principle of utility states an action is right if it promotes and maximises happiness, the morality of any action should be judged on the pleasure or pain produced by it 
• good/right = actions that crdate only pleasure 
• bad/wrong = actions that create pain 

• Bentham accepted that measuring the pleasure or pain of an action is not straight forward so he created the 'hedonic calculus' s that it could be measured 
• the happiness consequences could be measured through seven factors:

1. The intensity 

2. The duration 

3. It's certainty 

4. It's propinquity 

5. It's richness 

6. It purity 

7. It's extent 

Relativist = the belief that no action is right or wrong in itself 

teleogical = the right and wrong of an action should be judged by the end outcome 

consequential = the morality of an action sould be based on the consequence outcomes of our actions