The Principle of Utility
This video presents the same text shown beside it, spoken and on screen. It adds nothing the text does not say.
State
The principle of utility: an action is right in proportion as it tends to promote happiness for everyone affected, wrong as it tends to produce the reverse.
Show
A council choosing between a clinic and a stadium runs the principle: count every resident's gain and loss, and build whichever sums higher.
Builds on
Unlocks
- 153 Hedonism About Happiness
- 155 Bentham's Calculus
- 156 Everybody Counts for One
- 163 Act Utilitarianism
- 164 Rule Utilitarianism
- 165 The Ignorance Objection
- 171 The Justice Objection
- 172 The Rights Objection
- 173 The Backward-Looking-Reasons Objection
- 174 The Too-Demanding Objection
- 175 The Partiality Objection
- 185 Running a Utility Audit
- 191 The Transplant Surgeon
- 214 The Utilitarian Theory of Punishment
- 346 The Argument from Mercy
- 406 The Last Ventilator
- 411 The Toolkit