8.5 Chapter Glossary

Act Utilitarianism – An approach which attempts to calculate the pleasure/happiness to be obtained in every single moral choice.

Experience Machine – A thought experiment questioning whether happiness is the highest good.

Greatest Good – The primary principle of Utilitarianism, that an act is correct if it leads to the greatest happiness for the most people.

Hedonic Calculus – Bentham’s effort to measure the various qualities of pleasure resultant from any given moral choice.

Hedonism – The philosophy that we all desire pleasure above all else.

Instrumental Good – Something that is good not in and of itself but because it leads to an intrinsic good.

Intrinsic Good – Something that is good in and of itself, the highest good.

Problem of Calculation – A challenge to Utilitarianism suggesting it is not possible to calculate future happiness.

Problem of Relevant Beings – A challenge to Utilitarianism suggesting that it fails to consider all beings affected.

Qualitative Utilitarianism – Mill’s suggestion that the quality of pleasures should count far more than the quantity.

Quantitative Utilitarianism – Bentham’s position that each pleasure is equal to every other and what is needed is merely to sum up total pleasures.

Rule Utilitarianism – An approach which establishes general rules for behavior based upon past results that have maximized happiness.

Strong Rule Utilitarianism – The position that guidance from the set of rules that, if followed, would promote the greatest amount of total happiness must always be followed.

Utility – For Bentham, a positive or negative unit of pleasure/pain that could be measured to determine whether an action will yield the greatest pleasure.

Weak Rule Utilitarianism – The position that guidance from the set of rules that, if followed, would promote the greatest amount of total happiness can be ignored in circumstances where more happiness would be produced by breaking the rule.