Does the principle of utility constitute an adequate basis for justice? Would it, for example, authorize the punishment of an innocent person in certain circumstances? (Explain the theory of utilitarianism and consider a situation that might test its validity.) The principle of utility has evolved from an individual perspective to the general population. Jeremy Bentham, arguably the founder of utilitarianism, leaned toward hedoism and believed that pleasure is the only intrinsic good and that we should make choices based on the amount of pleasure we will receive. This concept interested him especially on an individual level. The amount of pleasure or satisfaction we receive and the pain or suffering we avoid from an action are the amount of utility it is determined to have. Bentham went so far as to invent the hedonic calculus, which takes into account factors such as intensity, duration, certainty, remoteness, fertility, number of people affected, etc. to determine the degree of usefulness of an act. John Stewart Mill attempted to counteract the problems in Bentham's theory by using the greatest happiness principle which "is not the greatest happiness of the agent, but the greatest amount of happiness as a whole". Mill delved deeper into the question of what kind of pleasure is best and determined that you have to take the word of people who have experienced a myriad of different pleasures and observe what they choose after experiencing them all. Although utilitarianism may seem feasible in theory, it does not take into account personal integrity, the long-term effects of an action... which makes its adoption impractical by society. Identifying specific situations helps us understand the problems associated with utilitarianism. Consider this scenario. David is sheriff in a small... middle of paper ... the rebels wanted to know in just a few seconds what David's decision was, how could he weigh all the options and determine what David's decision was rationally. a greater good? If utilitarianism were to be adopted by society, standards would need to be established to apply to these situations. Not everything can be measured by the same standard. Happiness is complicated and can be influenced by many different factors. How do we determine the overall or overall happiness of the members of a society? This seems to pose a real problem. Because happiness is not, like temperature or weight, directly measurable by the means at our disposal. Utilitarians must therefore approach the question indirectly. In other words, they will have to rely on indirect measures. These rules would be the ones that, in general, are known to reliably produce the most happiness. For example, of