Utilitarianism Classical Utilitarianism. More precisely, classical utilitarianism is committed to three key principles: Consequentialist principle: actions are judged right or wrong not in themselves, but upon the . Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different characterizations, the basic idea behind all of them is, in some sense, to maximize utility, which is often defined in terms of well-being or related concepts. This module will help explain those, and other, details. Utilitarianism Cesare Bonesana, Marchese Beccaria is credited as the author of an essay that forever changed the criminal justice system. What counts is the sum of all happiness caused by the action minus the sum of all harm. Utilitarianism | Philosophy The goal of today’s class was to introduce utilitarianism: who were the utilitarians, what did they believe, and what are the basic arguments for and against the view? Classical Rule Utilitarianism responds to the Justice, Rights, and Backward Looking Reasons arguments by avoiding the problem of considering the total consequences of a single, particular action. So to put this in the jargon of economists, Bentham allows interpersonal comparisons of utility. Classical utilitarianism is hedonistic. Utilitarianism