Utilitarianism
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Utilitarianism is a family of theories in normative ethics that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actio
Portrait of Bentham by Henry William Pickersgill
Peter Singer
John Stuart Mill
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John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher, political economist, and politician. He was a paradigmatic philosopher of liberalism and has been described as "the most influential English-speaking philo
Utilitarianism
…the medieval Indian philosopher Shantideva. The tradition of modern utilitarianism began with Jeremy Bentham, and continued with such philosophers as John Stuart Mill, Henry Sidgwick, R. M. Hare, and Peter Singer. The concept has been applied towards social welfare economics, questions of justice, the crisis of global…
Mill in c. 1870
John Stuart Mill and Helen Taylor. Helen was the daughter of Harriet Taylor and collaborated with Mill for fifteen years after her mother's death in 1858.
"The utilitarian doctrine is, that happiness is desirable, and the only thing desirable, as an end; all other things being only desirable as means to that end." ~ John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (1863)
"A Feminine Philosopher". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1873.