U

United States See AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT.

utilitarian/utilitarianism

An ethical and political perspective developed in the
19th century by British philosophers Jeremy BENTHAM,
James MILL, and John Stuart MILL. Its name comes from
the fact that it defines goodnessby social utility, or use-
fulness. A social policy is good if it produces “the
greatest happiness for the greatest number” of people.
Happiness is defined by utilitarians in materialistic
terms: economic or physical pleasure or avoidance of
pain. This hedonistic conception of ethical goodness
comes from the BEHAVIORISTtheory of Thomas HOBBES.
So, for example, a social (economic or political) policy
or LAWthat spreads goods to more people would be
considered just, by utilitarian thinkers. A process like
mass production of cars, which provides more cars for
everybody, would be better than handcrafted automo-
biles (which may be better made but are accessible to
fewer people). A socialized medicine policy that pro-
vided health care (even at a low level) to everyone
would be better than highly refined or specialized care
for a few.

The political effect of utilitarian ETHICSis obviously,

then, DEMOCRATICand EGALITARIAN. They were consid-

ered very RADICAL in 19th-century Britain, where

morality was based more on the CHRISTIANstandards of

God, the social good of the ARISTOCRACY, TRADITION,or

some other high standard. Utilitarian thought logically

leads to SOCIALISM, in which everyone is treated equally

and in which the inclusive ethics of every personal

preference is considered equally valid or moral. This

absence of an objective moral standard above individ-

ual pleasure rejects NATURAL LAWphilosophy and leads

to ethical relativism.

Later utilitarian thought (John Stuart Mill),

attempts to provide a quality standard of pleasure

(over merely greater quantity) through higher intellec-

tual and moral pleasures. Like Aristotle, Mill argued

that true human pleasure and goodness did not come

from just more and more goods but from higher intel-

lectual and moral pursuits. This added a more noble,

aristocratic dimension to utilitarian thought. As Mill

put it: “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied

than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied

than a fool satisfied.” By this, he meant that social pol-

icy should cultivate citizens’ higher faculties (knowl-

edge, virtue, art, morals) rather than just providing

more and more base consumer pleasures.

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