For the exam, you would need to know at least the following about Bentham’s ‘utilitarianism’.

• Jeremy Bentham was an eighteenth-century legal expert who developed a system of ethics called ‘Utilitarianism’.

• It is a teleological system, which judges acts as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ based on their outcomes — in theory, any act can be ‘right’ if it produces a good outcome.

• Here, we describe the basic principles of Utilitarianism, and illustrate them with the example of theft.

• Bentham argues that the only thing that is good in its own right is pleasure.

• He points out ‘Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. They alone point out what we ought to do and determine what we shall do’ (1823: 6).

• He means that everything a person does is done either because it is pleasurable, OR because it will lead to pleasure at a later time.

• Bentham explains that an act can be judged by taking account of the seven dimensions of pleasure:

  • intensity

  • duration

  • certainty or uncertainty

  • nearness or remoteness

  • fecundity

  • purity

  • extent

• For any given act, a person can use these to calculate how much pleasure will result from it, and thereby determine whether it is right or wrong.

• We can see how this works using the example of theft.

• A billionaire stealing from a homeless person is wrong: the intensity and duration of the pleasure are very limited for them, while the homeless person’s already limited pleasure is reduced even more.

• In contrast, someone stealing food to feed their starving children is right: not only are the intensity and duration of the pleasure greater, but the children’s survival will result in more pleasure in the future (fecundity).

Sources:

• Bentham, Jeremy. 1823 [2017]. An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation', ed. Jonathan Bennett, Early Modern Texts <https://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/bentham1780.pdf> [accessed 30 May 2026]