utilitarizm

Utilitarizm 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 consequence. The core principle of utilitarianism is the greatest happiness principle, which states that the right action is the one that produces the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people.

Key proponents of utilitarianism include Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Bentham, an early proponent, focused on a quantitative approach, suggesting that pleasures and pains could be measured and compared. Mill, while also a consequentialist, introduced a qualitative distinction between higher and lower pleasures, arguing that intellectual and moral pleasures are superior to purely physical ones.

There are different variations of utilitarianism, including act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism judges each individual action based on its consequences, while rule utilitarianism focuses on the consequences of following general rules. Utilitarianism has been influential in various fields, including economics, politics, and law, and continues to be a subject of debate and development in moral philosophy. Critics often raise concerns about the potential for utilitarianism to justify actions that seem intuitively wrong if they lead to a greater overall good, and the difficulty in accurately predicting and measuring consequences.