utilissa

Utilitarism is a family of ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. It is a form of consequentialism, meaning that the morality of an action is determined by its outcome or result. The core principle of utilitarianism is often summarized as "the greatest good for the greatest number."

There are several variations of utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism, for instance, judges each individual act based on whether it produces the greatest good. Rule utilitarianism, on the other hand, focuses on establishing general rules that, if followed, would lead to the greatest good. Another distinction is between hedonic utilitarianism, which equates happiness with pleasure and the absence of pain, and eudaimonistic utilitarianism, which defines happiness more broadly as flourishing or living a good life.

Key figures in the development of utilitarian thought include Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Bentham emphasized the quantitative aspects of pleasure and pain, while Mill introduced qualitative distinctions, arguing that some pleasures are intellectually or morally superior to others. Utilitarianism has been influential in fields such as economics, political philosophy, and law, but it has also faced criticisms regarding issues like the potential for injustice to minorities and the difficulty of predicting all consequences of an action.