ABSTRACT
One need to recall that utilitarianism, being an ethical theory, is concerned with all human beings; it is not concerned simply with individual happiness; it is concerned with the happiness of all, happiness being a good. Happiness, as has been said, presupposes the conscious mind: a mind that can judge things to be as required. Happiness may take very many different forms; that is to say, the precise nature of the state of mind of a happy individual may vary from person to person along a continuum that one mark by terms such as 'ecstatic', 'pleased', and 'contented'. Utilitarianism is not simply the doctrine that each individual should do whatever makes him happy nor, as one have seen, is it adequately summarized as the view that one should provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number, or such-like. The author concludes by emphasizing the key and irritatingly wrong-headed characteristic of much criticism of utilitarianism.
