The founding statement of utilitarianism, holding that actions are right insofar as they promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Bentham proposes a 'felicific calculus' to weigh pleasure against pain.
Sources for Bentham — An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation
Bentham — An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation in Philosophy
Held in the Philosophy chamber of the Babel Nexus Index.
- Plato — Republic (−375)
- Aristotle — Nicomachean Ethics (−340)
- Confucius — Analects (−475)
- Mencius — Mencius (−300)
- Laozi — Tao Te Ching (−400)
- Zhuang Zhou — Zhuangzi (−300)
- Epictetus — Enchiridion (125)
- Marcus Aurelius — Meditations (180)
- Epicurus — Letter to Menoeceus; Principal Doctrines (−300)
- Spinoza — Ethics (1677)
- Hume — An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals (1751)
- Kant — Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785)
- Mill — Utilitarianism (1863)
- Nietzsche — Beyond Good and Evil; On the Genealogy of Morality (1886)
- Nietzsche — Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883)