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What Is Utilitarianism?

185 Words1 Pages
The main principle of utilitarianism is “the right action in any situation is the one that tends to produce the greatest possible balance of happiness over unhappiness for the greatest possible number.” (pg. 128). In other words, which course of action is going to produce the most happiness. For example, if a person does the right thing it will lead to their happiness, if the person chooses to do the wrong thing then it will cause them to be unhappy. The “Utility Principle which is also known as the Greatest Happiness Principle.” (pg. 128) is a consequential theory, which uses a mathematical approach to finding the right action for the situation. When using this principle, we calculate the net utility by “subtracting the unhappiness produced
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