Explain why Jeremy Bentham's Hedonic Calculus seeks to determine a moral cause of action

The moral framework within which the Hedonic Calculus operates is Act Utilitarianism, which establishes the greatest good for the greatest number of people as the proper goal of a moral framework, arguing the observation that all living creatures seek pleasure and avoid pain as the justification for holding pleasure as moral good. The calculus as such seeks to establish the impact of a given action with calculations of the following seven tenets:How long the pleasure would last, its duration, how intense it would be, the locality of the pleasure, its propinquity (or proximity), the extent of the pleasure, how many people it will effect, its certainty or probability, the degree to which the pleasure is imbibed with pain, its purity, and its fecundity, I.E whether and to what degree it will give rise to additional pleasure. The calculus serves as a component tool in then establishing what, within his normative ethical theory, Bentham would term a moral or immoral action, moral if it creates more pleasure than pain for the greatest number of people, and immoral if the adverse.

Answered by Philosophy tutor

6150 Views

See similar Philosophy A Level tutors

Related Philosophy A Level answers

All answers ▸

Do Arguments from Empiricism support Berkeley's Idealism as a Theory of Perception?


What is moral realism?


How can I write a sufficiently detailed essay in the short time space given?


I understand that God might let human-caused evil occur because he wanted humans to have free will, but why would God let natural harms occur?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact usWhatsapp logoMessage us on Whatsapptelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

© MyTutorWeb Ltd 2013–2025

Terms & Conditions|Privacy Policy
Cookie Preferences