Utilitarians

Utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that judge the rightness of actions by their consequences, especially by the amount of overall happiness, welfare, or utility they produce. In its classic form, an action is right if it leads to the greatest net utility for all those affected, with impartial consideration given to each person’s interests. Utility can be defined in different ways, including pleasure and pain (hedonistic utilitarianism) or the satisfaction of preferences (preference utilitarianism).

Origins are typically traced to Jeremy Bentham, who articulated the principle of utility as the foundation of moral and legal decision making. John Stuart Mill refined the theory, arguing for qualitative distinctions among pleasures. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Henry Sidgwick, R. M. Hare, and others elaborated its methods and defenses. In contemporary ethics, Peter Singer and Derek Parfit helped develop and defend versions such as preference utilitarianism and more rigorous consequentialist reasoning.

Variants include act utilitarianism, which evaluates the consequences of individual actions, and rule utilitarianism, which evaluates the consequences of adopting general rules. Some writers distinguish between hedonistic and preference utilitarianism, and between positive and negative utilitarian aims (maximizing welfare versus minimizing suffering).

Critiques focus on the measurability of happiness, the aggregation of welfare across people, the potential sacrifice of individual rights for the greater good, and the difficulty of predicting outcomes. Proponents respond with arguments for impartial calculation, rule-guided utilitarianism, and distinctions that protect rights or justice within a broader utilitarian framework. Utilitarian reasoning has influenced welfare economics, public policy, and bioethics, shaping debates on cost-benefit analysis, animal welfare, and global poverty.

See also: Consequentialism; Hedonism; Preference utilitarianism.