Quotes About Utilitarianism

Some dreamers demand that scientists only discover things that can be used for good.

If we are prepared to take the life of another being merely in order to satisfy our taste for a particular type of food, then that being is no more than a means to our end.

The reaction against utilitarianism was a second romanticism, in which the fight against social injustice and the opposition to the actual theories of the "dismal science" played a much smaller part than the urge to escape from the present, whose problems the anti-utilitarians had no ability and no desire to solve, into the irrarionalism of Burke, Coleridge, and German romanticism.

I've got two old Volvos, two old Subarus, and an old Ford Ranger. If you've got an old car, you've gotta have at least several old cars, 'cause one's always gonna be in the garage.

They offer few alternatives to the alleged benefits of the Welfare State, shrugging their shoulders; and the creed of most of them is no better than a latter-day Utilitarianism

I've always felt that technology can be used to our benefit and should be used to our benefit.

He regarded meals as a waste of time and ate because his body required it; that was all.

action is best, which produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number

While it is not impossible to have a Nurturant Parent rationalist morality (perhaps certain versions of utilitarianism are of this sort), Reason is not typically understood as a nurturer. Reason commands, lays down the law, gives orders, judges, reprimands, and so on. We almost never conceive of it as nurturing, feeling, caring, and so forth.

It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.

A cucumber should be well-sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.

it saves bother to get an animal to walk to the slaughterhouse rather than having to drag it there. And

Society cares for the individual only so far as he is profitable.

El resultado es que con frecuencia parecemos obligados a escoger entre el utilitarismo y el intuicionismo.

Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain.

The utilitarian morality does recognise in human beings the power of sacrificing their own greatest good for the good of others. It only refuses to admit that the sacrifice is itself a good. A sacrifice which does not increase, or tend to increase, the sum total of happiness, it considers as wasted.

The utilitarian standard] is not the agent's own greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness altogether; and if it may possibly be doubted whether a noble character is always the happier for its nobleness, there can be no doubt that it makes other people happier, and that the world in general is immensely a gainer by it.

A utilitarian who believes in the perfect goodness and wisdom of God, necessarily believes that whatever God has thought fit to reveal on the subject of morals, must fulfil the requirements of utility in a supreme degree.

One of the organizing principles of gentrified thinking is to assess everyone based on what they can do for you, and then treat them accordingly.

Although utilitarianism has appeal, especially in a secular society, it also has shortcomings. The most common charge against utilitarianism is that it cannot protect the rights of minorities, and sometimes it can even justify obvious injustices when the greater good is served.

I'll do what I can to promote the greater good. If you can harm one person to save 1,000, I'm gonna do it every f**king time.

However, it's in a less formal book by Bentham, The Commonplace Book, that you find the phrase 'the happiness of the greatest number', which really sums up the philosophy. ('commonplace books' being a kind of posh scrapbook popular at the time with intellectuals to copy out their favourite poems and so on.)

O maior benefício das ferrovias é o fato de elas pouparem uma existência miserável a milhões de cavalos de tiro.

There's The Utilitarian Grill, serving only sweeteners (welfare), and The Deontological Diner, serving only salts (rights). Those are your options.