ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the utilitarian theory in more detail, and considers some parallels between utilitarianism and Immanuel Kant’s theory. For Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, much more than for David Hume and Kant, the aim of moral philosophy is practical. Both Bentham and Mill wrote extensively about social and political issues. Bentham devised schemes for the reform of the penal code, which he regarded as harsh and inhumane; and Mill wrote famous works defending individual freedom and advocating the liberation of women. The classical utilitarians were practical reformers who wanted to offer guidance to those in a position to make changes. The principle of utility or the Greatest Happiness Principle was meant to apply to personal decisions and also to social and political decisions. One strength of the principle of utility is that it seems to give clear and definite answers to a number of moral questions.
