Jeremy Bentham is most famous for his theory of Utilitarianism, which is a view that is widely accepted and studied by many political and moral philosophers. However, Bentham’s main principle behind this view was the driving force to him standing out among his contemporaries. Namely, the ‘principle of utility’, sometimes referred to as ‘the greatest happiness principle’. To explain this concept, it is imminent to have a basic understanding of utilitarianism. This is the consequentialist view that judges the morality of actions based on the amount of utility they cause. More simply, an action is right if it results in the greatest amount of utility possible among all the options. The concept of utility is defined differently by different philosophers, but is commonly equated to be happiness, pleasure, or welfare. According to Bentham, utility is happiness or pleasure (the two are synonymous for him). Moreover, Bentham believes that there are two forms of governance in nature; pleasure and pain. He argues that “They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think: every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve to demonstrate and confirm it” (An Introduction). In other words, Jeremy Bentham argues that we can not escape the governance of the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain, even when we think that we are straying from them in our actions. Furthermore, pain and pleasure are essentially the purpose of all our thoughts and actions, according to Bentham. In the quote above he uses the metaphor of subjection to connect his view that pain and pleasure are the laws which humans are subject to, inescapably. This is precisely the basis on which the principle of utility rests on. More specifically, the principle of utility states that every action, both individual and governmental, should produce the most benefit in the form of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. As a clarification when speaking of government adherence to this principle, he argues that government is to benefit the community as a whole. However, to him, “The community is a fictitious body, composed of individual persons who are considered as constituting as its members” (An Introduction). He adds that the interest of the community then, is the sum interest of its members (An Introduction). This clarification is serving to show that when the principle of utility is applied to governmental laws or actions, it must be applied to individual interests summed together rather than just an arbitrary measurement of the group. On the flip side, Bentham argues that any action which does not produce the greatest amount of pleasure, is morally wrong (Sweet). He believes this principle is the basis of morality and is the object of utilitarianism. It is important to note that the principle of utility is part of the larger philosophical debate about morality. More specifically, the long-standing topic arguing what the best mechanism for judging the rightness or wrongness of an action. According to Bentham’s principle, the mechanism to judge the morality of actions that should be employed is whether it promotes the greatest overall happiness or avoidance of pain. Although the principle is not strictly used in moral philosophy, as many economists use utilitarianism and the principle of utility as a framework.
Bentham has two in depth arguments for the principle of utility; the first being on the basis of human behavior and the second being based on equality. His first argument for the principle of utility states that it should be used to judge actions due to the fact that human behavior is entirely in the pursuit of happiness and the avoidance of pain. More specifically, “Bentham says, the principle of utility is something to which individuals, in acting, refer either explicitly or implicitly, and this is something that can be ascertained and confirmed by simple observation” (Sweet). This quote means that individuals act while already referring to whether or not the action will create utility or not and this fact is proven by observations of human beings. The argument then goes:human behavior is all in the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain is to say that human behavior is already in the pursuit of utility. Therefore, the principle of utility is simply promoting what human behavior already seeks. This argument does however rest on the assumption that human nature is correct in seeking utility.
Bentham’s second argument for the principle of utility is on the basis of its equality and fairness. He states that “if pleasure is the good, then it is good irrespective of whose pleasure it is. Thus, a moral injunction to pursue or maximize pleasure has force independently of the specific interests of the person acting. Bentham also suggests that individuals would reasonably seek general happiness simply because the interests of others are inextricably bound up with their own” (Sweet). To put it in other words Jeremy Bentham argues that the principle of utility should be used to judge actions because it promotes equality in decision-making. He argues that it does so by leaving the law-makers or other decision-makers unbiased because they will advocate for the overall happiness regardless of personal interests. This rests on the fact that, under the principle of utility, if the overall population is happy, then the decision-maker is a part of the general population so they get benefited alongside others.. Thus, leaving no room for people to need to pursue corrupted self-interest. Furthermore, he argues that under the principle of utility, every person’s happiness counts equally as one, so no one is worth more than another (Sweet). Overall, the principle of utility promotes equality by allowing for unbiased decision-making and allowing people to have equal worth in the calculation of utility. A common objection to this argument is that people are innately not capable of ignoring self-interest even when benefitting the overall population would benefit them as well. Therefore, it is not really an unbiased decision or action. Bentham argues that the solution to this is by “making this identification of interests obvious and, when necessary, bringing diverse interests together would be the responsibility of the legislator” (Sweet).
Glossary:
Principle of Utility: the principle which states that an action should maximize the overall happiness of society.
Utilitarianism: a consequentialist view that states that actions’ morality should be judged on its maximization of utility.
Utility (according to Bentham): happiness or pleasure.
Works Cited:
Bentham, Jeremy. An Introduction to the Principle of Morals and Legislation. Batoche Books, December 1, 1999, ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rochester/reader.action?docID=3117711. Accessed 27 October 2022.
Sweet, William. “Jeremy Bentham (1784-1832).” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://iep.utm.edu/jeremy-bentham/