utilitarianism

(noun)

The theory that action should be directed toward achieving the "greatest happiness for the greatest number of people"; hedonistic universalism.

Related Terms

Examples of utilitarianism in the following topics:

  • Personal ethics: four ethical approaches

    • The Utilitarian approach is perhaps the most familiar and easiest to understand of all approaches to ethics.
    • The Utilitarian asks a very important question: "How will my actions affect others?
    • "The greatest good for the greatest number" is the motto of the Utilitarian approach.
    • When a businessperson does a cost benefit analysis, he/she is practicing Utilitarian ethics.
    • This was Kant's fundamental criticism of the Utilitarians.

  • Corporate Policies

    • Others believe that corporate ethics policies are primarily rooted in utilitarianism concerns, and that they are mainly to limit the company's legal liability, or to curry public favor by giving the appearance of being a good corporate citizen.

  • Corporate Social Responsibility

    • Hence, corporations are consequential critters, Utilitarian to the core.
    • How the humans who work and manage these organizations maintain their own integrity within the Utilitarian cultures of the multinational corporation is a chapter of history we are only beginning to write.

  • A Little Bit About Everything

    • Even if this sad assessment rings true, the following comments by John Stuart Mill in his 1863 treatise on "Utilitarianism" counter it: "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.