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Utilitarianism: The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number
How Bentham and Mill tried to reduce morality to a calculus
What if every moral question has a mathematically correct answer — if only we could calculate it?
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Utilitarianism, developed by Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and refined by John Stuart Mill, holds that the morally right action is the one that maximises overall happiness or well-being. Bentham's 'felicific calculus' attempted to measure pleasure and pain numerically — intensity, duration, probability, extent. The morally optimal choice is whichever maximises the sum.
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Question 1 of 1What is the key difference between act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism?