Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism, the ethical theory which finds the basis of moral distinctions in the utility of actions—i.e. their fitness to produce happiness. This hedonistic theory, its genesis, and its various types are dealt with at ETHICS, Vol. IV. p. 435. The words utility and utilitarian in this sense were first used by Bentham about 1802; Mill, however, believed that he first employed in philosophy the term utilitarian (which he found in Galt's Annals of the Parish) in 1823. Utilitarian and utilitarianism are also used loosely in a much wider sense of the view of life which would regulate all effort and action with total disregard to what is merely noble or beautiful, to culture, grace, and artistic perfection, and would look for the universal test of aims and conduct in practical usefulness alone. 'Will it pay?' becomes then the first and the final problem for this degrading and impossible Philistinism, which is the negation of all poetry and art, of ideal morals or true religion. This is of course not necessarily involved in the acceptance of a hedonistic system of ethics. The utilitarian conception of education is a preliminary apprenticeship to the future trade or occupation in life; science or some branch of science may constitute an essential part of serious education, but literature should be but pastime for leisure hours. The contrasted ideals are well shown in Herbert Spencer's Education and Foillée's Education from a National Standpoint (trans. 1892). See also BENTHAM, MILL, &c.; and Leslie Stephen, The English Utilitarians (1900).