Bentham's binary form of maximizing utilitarianism. Issue 1 (2nd January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gustafsson, Johan E.
• Is Part Of: British journal for the history of philosophy. Volume 26:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 87
• Page End: 109
• Publication Date: 2018-01-02
• Subjects: Jeremy Bentham -- utilitarianism -- maximization -- satisficing -- alternatives; Philosophy -- History -- Periodicals; 109
• DOI: 10.1080/09608788.2017.1347558
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-8788

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Jeremy Bentham is often interpreted as defending a satisficing, rather than maximizing, version of utilitarianism, where an act is right as long as it produces more pleasure than pain. This lack of maximization is surprising given Bentham's maximizing slogan 'the greatest happiness of the greatest number'. Against the satisficing interpretation, I argue that Bentham consistently defends a maximizing version of utilitarianism, where an act's consequences are compared to those of not performing the act. I show that following this version of utilitarianism requires that one realizes the greatest happiness for all affected individuals.