ABSTRACT
Utilitarianism is the most widely subscribed to and practically significant ethical theory in the Western world. According to John Stuart Mill, 'the creed which accepts as the foundation of Morals, Utility or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. All utilitarian theories are consequentialist, but there are nonetheless different utilitarian theories. The major division of utilitarian theories is between ideal utilitarians and hedonistic utilitarians. There is nothing anti-utilitarian about a reclusive life-style. It is sometimes said that utilitarianism on closer inspection turns out to be of no use. Finally, this chapter concludes by pointing out that a large part of the significance of utilitarianism is negative and says, it is a view about what in principle makes actions right and wrong. The chapter also presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book.
