the.com/utilitarianism
the moral math homework where everyone's happiness counts, including strangers you'll never meet.
means an ethical theory that says the right action is whichever produces the greatest good for the greatest number.
from formalized by jeremy bentham in the late 1700s as a hedonic calculus for lawmaking, then refined by john stuart mill into something less about pleasure-counting and more about quality of happiness.
bentham's felicific calculusliterally tried to quantify pleasure with math
trolley problemexists mainly to torture utilitarians at parties
mill's twistargued some pleasures are just better than others
rule vs actone judges actions, the other judges general policies