Utilitarianism is a moral theory that advocates for actions promoting happiness and the greatest good for the majority, associated with philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. It holds that actions are right if they promote happiness and wrong if they produce unhappiness, while emphasizing the intrinsic value of pleasure and equal consideration for everyone's happiness. Despite its influence in political and economic spheres, utilitarianism faces limitations such as oversimplifying morality and challenging the consideration of justice and individual rights.

1. Utilitarianism
KYLA MARIE LABRADO
GOLDEN MAY LAPINIG
BSED-SCIENCES 1A

2. Utilitarianism is a moral theory
advocating for actions that
promote happiness and
pleasure, aiming for the
betterment of society through
social, economic, or political
decisions, focusing on the
happiness of the majority.
“The greatest good for
the greatest is a maxim of
utilitarianism.”
What is
utilitarianism?

3.  Utilitarianism is a tradition of ethical philosophy that is associated
with Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, two late 18th- and 19th-
century British philosophers, economists, and political thinkers.
 Utilitarianism holds that an action is right if it tends to promote
happiness and wrong if it tends to produce sadness, or the reverse
of happiness— not just the happiness of the actor but that of
everyone affected by it.
Understanding Utilitarianism

4.  Pleasure, or happiness, is the only thing that has
intrinsic value.
 Actions are right if they promote happiness, and wrong
if they promote
 unhappiness.
 Everyone's happiness counts equally.
The Three Generally Accepted Axioms of
Utilitarianism State That

5. From the
Founders of
Utilitarianism

6. Jeremy Bentham's 1789 publication, Introduction to the
Principles of Morals and Legislation, introduces the "greatest
happiness principle" as the governance of pain and pleasure.
John Stuart Mill later published Utilitarianism in 1863, stating
that actions are right in proportion to promote happiness and
wrong in proportion to produce the opposite.

7. • Utilitarianism is a theory of morality, which advocates actions
that foster happiness and opposes actions that cause
unhappiness.
• Utilitarianism promotes the greatest amount of good for the
greatest number of people.
• When used in a sociopolitical construct, utilitarian ethics aims
for the
betterment of society as a whole.
• Utilitarianism is a reason-based approach to determining right
and wrong, but it has limitations.
KEY TAKEAWAYS

8. Utilitarianism
Relevance in a
Political
Economy

9. Utilitarianism has been a central principle in liberal
democracies for centuries, addressing questions like the
greatest amount of good, happiness, and justice. In Western
democracies, policymakers advocate for free markets and
government interference for safety and security. However,
disadvantaged groups often face income inequality or negative
consequences due to utilitarian policies.

10. Utilitarianism, a moral framework that
justifies military force or war, posits that the
most ethical choice is the one that
maximizes good for the most number.
In Business and
Commerce

11.  Rule utilitarianism helps the largest number of people using
the fairest methods poss
 Act utilitarianism makes the most ethical actions possible
for the benefit of the people.
The theory asserts that there are two types of utilitarian ethics practiced in
the business world, rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism.

12. In the workplace, though, utilitarian ethics
are difficult to achieve. These
ethics also can be challenging to maintain
in our business culture, where a
capitalistic economy often teaches
people to focus on themselves at the
expense of others. Similarly, monopolistic
competition teaches one business to
flourish at the expense of others.
The Limitations of
Utilitarianism

13.  • A limitation of utilitarianism is that it tends to create a
black-and-white construct of morality. In utilitarian ethics,
there are no shades of gray—either something is wrong or
it is right.
 • Utilitarianism also cannot predict with certainty whether
them consequences of our actions will be good or bad—the
results of our actions happen in the future.
 Utilitarianism also has trouble accounting for values like
justice and individual rights.
Although utilitarianism is surely a reason-based approach to
determining right and wrong, it has obvious limitations.

14. THANK YOU!