Deontology

A Theory of Utilitarianism. This deals with pleasure or pain. As humans we seek to gain immediate pleasure and to avoid pain. Bentham argues that all human action can be put into an equation. This equation has seven factors:

1. Intensity of pleasure or pain.

2. Duration of pleasure or pain.

3. Certainty /Uncertainty of pleasure or pain.

4. Remoteness of pleasure or pain.

5. Chances of the same effects being repeated.

6. Chances of same effects NOT being repeated.

7. Number of people affected by pleasure or pain arising as a result of the actions in question.

Examples of human action that Bentham says can be put into this equation are: Altruism, Love, Duty, Faith, and Obedience to the law. He believed that people have a self interest that they are only concerned with their own well being over society. He also believed that any action that does not promote the greatest happiness is morally wrong. He believed that if we grabbed the first sight of pleasure it would be often followed by pain. Motives were never measured with Bentham, until the outcome. The measurement of pleasure and pain were to make better choices.

Basically his theory is a moral calculus where individuals make a decision after weighing all of the positive and negative aspects against each other and if the positive outweighs the negative then it is morally acceptable and vice versa.