Utilitarianism Analysis

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The word “Utilitarianism" was first used by British philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) in An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation in 1781. His utilitarianism was based on three points: pain and happiness, utility, and consequentialism. Bentham believed that pain and pleasure of a certain behavior is the only criterion for judging good and evil. Pleasure means good, pain means evil; pursuing happiness and avoid suffering were human nature. Based on this, he proposed a principle for moral judging: “it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.”(Bentham, 1776) He thought that “utility” of human behavior (happiness) can be calculated. Besides, Bentham evaluate a behavior according …show more content…
Since 1837, the Great Britain had entered the Victorian Era, a time when Industrial development and overseas expansion reached its peak. As a result, interest and self-serving nature of utilitarianism became the mainstream of thought and culture. Bentham and Mill's utilitarianism degenerated to a trend of pursuing money and material, ignoring the moral concern of well-being and human’s overall development. “The greatest happiness of the greatest number” had been shelved; “public welfare” was completely set aside; people became narrow utilitarian who only saw the "self-interest" part of utilitarianism. On the aspect of consequentialism, utilitarian philosophy advocated to evaluate a certain active from the perspective of result, which was in line with the psychology of rising capitalism-as long as beneficial to profit increase, motivation and means can be neglected. (Zhou, 1991: 64) In addition, the calculation of “utility” led to a result that calculating was regarded as a necessary means to …show more content…
In the first Book of Sybil, Disraeli cast his topic and expressed his worry on poor people through the utopian socialist Morley’s words. When the young aristocracy Egremont said with a smile that “our queen reigns over the greatest nation that ever existed”, Morley’s short inquiry “which nation” made readers think. Then his explained further: “Two nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other's habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws.” “THE RICH AND THE POOR”.(Disraeli, 1845:64)In Sybil, highlighting the side of public and social welfare in his political philosophy, Disraeli made his efforts to describe the most serious Victorian social crisis influenced by bourgeois utilitarianism thought-the miserable of poor and the increasing gaps between poor and rich. As we have mentioned that Disraeli took People as one of the three elements of the polity, so the status of people has been an

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