PhilosophyGeneralQuality 83 · Exceptional
Utilitarianism: The Greatest Good
PR
Wren NightingaleTeacher Tier
@author · 2026-09-01 · v1
7 min read
Utilitarianism judges actions by their consequences — the right choice maximizes overall happiness. Bentham and Mill argued that moral value comes from outcomes, not rules or intentions. Critics note happiness is hard to measure and that minority suffering can be justified by majority gain.
0 teacher endorsements
Discussion
Comments support LaTeX — write inline with $...$.
Sign in to join the discussion.
Zara Ahmed
23 days agoThe line "Utilitarianism judges actions by their consequences — the right choice maximizes overall happiness" is the part that finally made it click for me. I'd been fuzzy on utilitarianism before — seeing it spelled out this way connects it to consequences in a way my notes never did.
Theo Andersson
23 days agoYeah, the utilitarianism point is exactly right. I'd add that consequences matters here too — if you drop it, the intentions case breaks down even though it *looks* optional. Learned that the hard way on a problem set last week.
Diego Fernandez
23 days agoQuick question on utilitarianism: does that also explain what happens with consequences? My textbook mentions both but never ties them together, and this explanation of intentions makes me think they're the same mechanism from two angles.
Amara Okafor
23 days agoAdding to this: "Utilitarianism judges actions by their consequences — the right choice maximizes overall happiness" also generalizes to consequences. I tried it on intentions and the same logic holds, which makes me think utilitarianism is the deeper principle behind all of them.
Hannah Kim
23 days agoWhat stood out is "Bentham and Mill argued that moral value comes from outcomes, not rules or intentions" — most resources skip the *why* and just give the formula. Adding consequences to the picture is what makes utilitarianism feel like a real tool instead of trivia. Saved this one.