Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher and political radical. He is primarily known today for his moral philosophy, especially his principle of utilitarianism, which evaluates actions based upon their consequences. ... Happiness, according to Bentham, is thus a matter of experiencing pleasure and lack of pain. Utilitarianism is one of the best known and most influential moral theories. ... Utilitarians believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better by increasing the number of good things (such as pleasure and happiness) in the world and decreasing the number of bad things (such as pain and unhappiness).

1. UTILITARIANISM
BY
JEREMY BENTHAM

2. JEREMY BENTHAM
• British philosopher.
• Jurist.
• Social reformer.
• Founder of modern
utilitarianism.
(1748-1832) London, England

3. DEFINITION OF UTILITARIANISM
Utilitarianism is the view that actions are morally permissible if and only if they produce at least as
much as net happiness as any other available action.The more happiness and the less suffering that
results from out actions, the better the action is and the right action is the one that produces the
greatest balance of happiness over suffering.
For Example:
According to utilitarianism any other action is morally wrong if it appeals more to the suffering than
happiness.

4. THEORY OF UTILITARIANISM
There are two formulation of utilitarianTheory.
 Principle of Utility :
The best action is that which produces the greatest happiness or reduces pain.
For Example - I helped and elderly man to cross the street and he gets across the street safely
 Greatest Happiness :
We ought to do actions which produces the greatest happiness and least pain for the greatest number
of people.
For Example - I have 6 patients and 5 vials of antidotes for a virus. 1 of those patient need 5 vials to
survive and others can be cured with only 1 vial of antidote.so I decided to save 5 out 6 patients and let
the last patient die.

5. PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY
About principle of utility Bentham said "principle which approves or disapproves of every action
whatsoever, according to the tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness
of the party whose interest is in question: or, what is the same thing in other words, to promote or to
oppose that happiness."
The two principles of utility are:
• Happiness (happiness is pleasure and absence of pain).
• Unhappiness (unhappiness is pain and absence of pleasure).

6. PROBLEM: ARE HAPPINESS AND PLEASURE THE SAME ?
• “Actions are right in proportion when they tend to promote happiness, wrong when they tend to
produce the reverse of happiness.”
• According to Bentham’s theory, the rightness of an action entirely depends on value of it’s
consequences.That is why the theory is also described as consequentialist.
• Problem: are happiness and pleasure the same thing?

7. HEDONISTIC CALCULUS
Hedonistic calculus is a method of working out the sum total of pleasure and pain produced by an act,
and thus the total value of its consequences. Jeremy Bentham developed the idea of the hedonistic
calculus. Bentham believed that an act was good based upon the outcome of the act, specifically, if it
provided more happiness for more people than harm. Bentham pointed out that pleasure and pain do
not differ in quality or kind.

8. VARIABLES OF HEDONISTIC CALCULUS
There are seven variables to assess pleasure according to Hedonistic Calculus.They are:
• Intensity (I) - How intense is the pleasure or pain?
• Duration (D) - How long does the pleasure or pain last?
• Certainty (C) -What is the probability that the pleasure or pain will occur?
• Propinquity (nearness or remoteness) (N) - How far off in the future is the pleasure or pain?
• Fecundity (F) -What is the probability that the pleasure will lead to other pleasures?
• Purity (P) -What is the probability that the pain will lead to other pains?
• Extent (E) - How many persons are affected by the pleasure?

9. CASE STUDY ON BASIS OF HEDONISTIC CALCULUS'SVARIABLE
Two case study are given according to Hedonistic calculus variable:-
1.The decision at Coventry duringWWII.
-The decision was made not to inform the town that they would be
bombed.
2.The Ford Pinto case:A defective vehicle would sometimes explode when hit.
-The model was not recalled and repaired by ford because they felt it was cheaper to
pay the liability suits than to recall and repair all the defective cars.

10. CRITICISM OF BENTHAM THEORY
Bentham theory could mean that if ten people would be happy watching a man being eaten by
wild dogs, it would be a morally good thing for the ten men to kidnap someone (especially
someone whose death would not cause grief to many others ) and throw the man into a cage of
wild, hungry dogs.

11. CRITICISM OF
UTILITARIANISM
Utilitarianism plays fast and loose with God’s commandments. If lying , stealing or killing could
lead to an increase of happiness for the greatest number, we are told we should lie, steal or kill.
Isn’t that a rejection of God’s commands?

12. CONCLUSION
The main idea of utilitarianism is that morality depends on pleasure and pain. If it leads to pleasure
then it’s a morally good action. if the action leads to pain , It is morally bad action. the main determinant
of what is right or wrong is the relationship between what we do or what form our moral code takes and
what is the impact of our moral perspective on the level of people’s well-being.
It covers all the aspects of society and state and it sharpens the understanding about law and improves the
legal reasoning