Introduction to Utilitarianism

Theories of Well-Being

28 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

“To what shall the character of utility be ascribed, if not to that which is a source of pleasure?” – Jeremy Bentham 1 1 Table of Contents In...

1. Introduction to Utilitarianism

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This chapter introduces utilitarianism, and its major costs and benefits as a moral theory. The original text contained 12 footnotes which were omitte...

2. Elements and Types of Utilitarianism

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After defining utilitarianism, this chapter offers a detailed analysis of its four key elements (consequentialism, welfarism, impartiality, and aggreg...

3. Arguments for Utilitarianism

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This chapter explains reflective equilibrium as a moral methodology, and presents several arguments for utilitarianism over non-consequentialist appro...

4. Theories of Well-Being

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Explores the three major theories of well-being, or what makes a life good for the individual living it: hedonism, desire theory, and objective list t...

5. Population Ethics

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Population ethics tackles questions like how we should weigh new lives against existing lives, and how we should balance quantity and quality of life ...

6. Utilitarianism and Practical Ethics

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Utilitarianism has important implications for how we should think about leading an ethical life. Despite giving no intrinsic weight to deontic constra...

7. Near-Utilitarian Alternatives

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are several ways to reject aspects of utilitarianism while remaining on board with the general thrust of the theory (at least in practice). This...

8. Objections to Utilitarianism and Responses

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This chapter presents a toolkit of general strategies for responding to objections to utilitarianism, before introducing the most influential specific...

8.1 The Rights Objection

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Many find it objectionable that utilitarianism seemingly licenses outrageous rights violations in certain hypothetical scenarios, killing innocent peo...

8.2 The Mere Means Objection

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Critics often allege that utilitarianism objectionably instrumentalizes people—treating us as mere means to the greater good, rather than properly v...

8.3 The Separateness of Persons Objection

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The idea that utilitarianism neglects the 'separateness of persons' has proven to be a widely influential objection. But it is one that is difficult t...

8.4 The Demandingness Objection

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In directing us to choose the impartially best outcome, even at significant cost to ourselves, utilitarianism can seem an incredibly demanding theory....

8.5 The Alienation Objection

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Abstract moral theories threaten to alienate us from much that we hold dear. This article explores two possible defenses of utilitarianism against thi...

8.6 The Special Obligations Objection

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Relationships like parenthood or guardianship seemingly give rise to special obligations to protect those who fall under our care (where these obligat...

8.7 The Cluelessness Objection

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Is utilitarianism undermined by our inability to predict the long-term consequences of our actions? This article explores whether utilitarians can sti...

8.8 The Equality Objection

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Utilitarianism is concerned with the overall well-being of individuals in the population, but many object that justice requires an additional concern ...

8.9 The Abusability Objection

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Some argue that utilitarianism is self-effacing, or recommends against its own acceptance, due to the risk that mistaken appeals to the 'greater good'...

Acting on Utilitarianism

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

“Create all the happiness you are able to create; remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you, will invite you to add som...

Utilitarian Thinkers: Mozi

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mò Dí (墨翟), better known as Mòzǐ or “Master Mò,” flourished c. 430 BCE in what is now Tengzhou, Shandong Province, China. Likely an artis...

Utilitarian Thinkers: Susanna Newcome

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Susanna Newcome (1685-1763) was an eighteenth-century philosopher and theologian who lived and worked in England. Her most significant work, An Enquir...

Utilitarian Thinkers: Jeremy Bentham

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jeremy Bentham was born in 1748 to a wealthy family. A child prodigy, his father sent him to study at Queen’s College, Oxford University, aged 12. A...

Utilitarian Thinkers: William Thompson

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

William Thompson (1775–1833) was a philosopher, political economist, and social reformer working during the early nineteenth century. He and his som...

Utilitarian Thinkers: John Stuart Mill

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Stuart Mill was born in 1806, in London. He was the son of James Mill, a friend of Jeremy Bentham’s who shared many of his principles. James in...

Utilitarian Thinkers: Harriet Taylor Mill

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Harriet Taylor Mill (née Hardy) was born in 1807 in Walworth, South London, as the daughter of a midwife. She was educated at home and became interes...

Utilitarian Thinkers: Henry Sidgwick

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Sidgwick was born in 1838 to a wealthy family in Yorkshire, England. He studied at Cambridge as an undergraduate, where he stayed for the rest of his ...

Utilitarian Thinkers: Richard M. Hare

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Richard M. Hare (1919 - 2002) is usually acknowledged to be one of the major moral thinkers of the 20th century. After being a Japanese prisoner of wa...

Utilitarian Thinkers: Peter Singer

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Singer was born in 1946, Melbourne, Australia, to an Austrian Jewish family that emigrated from Austria to escape persecution by the Nazis. He studied...

Guest Essay: Analytic Hedonism and Observable Moral Facts

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this summary of her 2016 book The Feeling of Value, Sharon Hewitt Rawlette defends “analytic hedonism”. From our direct acquaintance with the i...

Guest Essay: Buddhism and Utilitarianism

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This article analyses the extent to which elements of utilitarianism can be found within (i) the Early Buddhist tradition, and (ii) classical Indian M...

Guest Essay: Virtues for Real-World Utilitarians

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This article discusses how utilitarians should go about applying their philosophy in the real world. It argues that utilitarians should cultivate a se...

Guest Essay: Naturalistic Arguments for Ethical Hedonism

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Many deny that objective and universal moral truth exists. Many more deny that it can be empirically discovered within natural reality. The arguments ...

Guest Essay: Utilitarianism and Research Ethics

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This essay questions common assumptions about the philosophical foundations of research ethics. It argues that (I) utilitarianism can account for many...

Guest Essay: Utilitarianism and Climate Change

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How does utilitarianism direct us to respond to climate change? This essay explores the harms caused by carbon emissions, how the cost-effectiveness o...

Guest Essay: Uncertainty and Utilitarianism

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When we’re less than fully certain of which moral view is correct, it may be wise to ‘hedge our bets’ by finding a compromise between the differ...

Guest Essay: Bentham and Criminal Law

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) sought to design a set of legal and political institutions that would conform to the ‘principle of utility’, i.e. produ...

Guest Essay: Utilitarianism and Nonhuman Animals

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This essay advances three claims about utilitarianism and nonhuman animals. Utilitarianism plausibly implies, first, that all vertebrates and many inv...

Guest Essay: The Time-Relative Account of Interests

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The utilitarian goal of promoting everyone’s interests is complicated by the Parfitian view that one’s self-interest across time is a matt...

Guest Essay: Welfare Economics and Interpersonal Utility Comparisons

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Many students of economics and philosophy have been puzzled by whether utility is cardinally or only ordinally measurable, and whether interpersonal c...

Guest Essay: Utilitarianism and Business Ethics

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Maximizing profits can predictably diverge from what does the most good. When the two come apart, utilitarian principles imply that promoting well-bei...

Guest Essay: Utilitarian Political Philosophy

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Utilitarianism offers an attractive approach to political philosophy that combines pragmatic attention to consequences with robust protections for ind...

Guest Essay: Moral Psychology and Utilitarianism

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As an abstract ideal, utilitarianism may sound like simple common sense. But utilitarianism has some implications that are counterintuitive. This essa...

Guest Essay: Utilitarianism and Voting

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This essay discusses the value of voting from a utilitarian perspective. It explores how to estimate the chance of casting a decisive vote, how to thi...

Guest Essay: Expected Utility Maximization

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Expected Utility Maximization directs us to weigh the value associated with each possible outcome by its probability, yielding an overall expected val...

Utilitarianism: Simply Explained

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Utilitarianism is a moral theory that combines two key claims: (1) Everyone matters equally and (2) It’s better to do more good than less.Seems obvi...

Study Guide: Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Study guide for Peter Singer's Animal Liberation (1975). ---Outline:(00:13) Introduction(01:09) Singer's Argument Against Speciesism(04:55) Factory Fa...

Study Guide: Peter Singer’s ‘Famine, Affluence, and Morality’

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Singer’s ‘Famine, Affluence, and Morality’1 is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential texts in applied ethics. This ...

“The Enfranchisement of Women” by Harriet Taylor Mill

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Most of our readers will probably learn from these pages for the first time, that there has arisen in the United States, and in the most civilised and...

“On Liberty” (Chapter 1) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Liberty (1859) details Mill's view that individuals should be left wholly free to engage in any activity, thought or belief that does not harm othe...

“On Liberty” (Chapter 2) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Liberty (1859) details Mill's view that individuals should be left wholly free to engage in any activity, thought or belief that does not harm othe...

“On Liberty” (Chapter 3) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Liberty (1859) details Mill's view that individuals should be left wholly free to engage in any activity, thought or belief that does not harm othe...

“On Liberty” (Chapter 4) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Liberty (1859) details Mill's view that individuals should be left wholly free to engage in any activity, thought or belief that does not harm othe...

“On Liberty” (Chapter 5) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Liberty (1859) details Mill's view that individuals should be left wholly free to engage in any activity, thought or belief that does not harm othe...

“Utilitarianism” (Chapter 1) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Stuart Mill's book Utilitarianism is one of the most influential and widely-read philosophical defenses of utilitarianism in ethics. Th...

“Utilitarianism” (Chapter 2) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Stuart Mill's book Utilitarianism is one of the most influential and widely-read philosophical defenses of utilitarianism in ethics. Th...

“Utilitarianism” (Chapter 3) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Stuart Mill's book Utilitarianism is one of the most influential and widely-read philosophical defenses of utilitarianism in ethics. Th...

“Utilitarianism” (Chapter 4) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Stuart Mill's book Utilitarianism is one of the most influential and widely-read philosophical defenses of utilitarianism in ethics. Th...

“Utilitarianism” (Chapter 5) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John Stuart Mill's book Utilitarianism is one of the most influential and widely-read philosophical defenses of utilitarianism in ethics. Th...

“The Subjection of Women” (Chapter 1) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Subjection of Women is the title of an essay written by John Stuart Mill in 1869, possibly jointly with his wife Harriet Taylor Mill, stating an a...

“The Subjection of Women” (Chapter 2) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Subjection of Women is the title of an essay written by John Stuart Mill in 1869, possibly jointly with his wife Harriet Taylor Mill, stating an a...

“The Subjection of Women” (Chapter 3) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Subjection of Women is the title of an essay written by John Stuart Mill in 1869, possibly jointly with his wife Harriet Taylor Mill, stating an a...

“The Subjection of Women” (Chapter 4) by John Stuart Mill

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Subjection of Women is the title of an essay written by John Stuart Mill in 1869, possibly jointly with his wife Harriet Taylor Mill, stating an a...