Explain the Main Differences Between the Utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham and That of John Stuart Mill

Explain the main differences between the utilitarianism of Jeremy Jer emy Bentham and that of John Stuart Mill. Bentham and mill shared and believed in the idea of utilitarianism. Mill believed in rule utilitarianism, this is the general rule that everybody should follow to bring about the greatest good for that community. Moreover, we should vote on the best possible results for the whole community, which produces the most happiness and that should become a rule for society to live by. On the other hand, Bentham believed in act utilitarianism this maintains that whenever possible the principle of utility should be directly applied for each individual circumstance. or example, if lying to someone will  produce the greatest pleasure ! happiness then they should lie. "he theory of the hedonic hed onic calculus plays a large part in both mill #$% Bentham theory of utilitarianism. Bentham believed that the hedonic hedo nic calculus was needed as a &uantity assessment of a situation, which loo's at the &uantity of pleasure it produces. "he hedonic calculus measures the different factors of pleasures in a situation. (ntensity • %uration • )ertainty • *ropin&uity • re&uency • *urity • Extent • Mill, however, re+ected the theory of the hedonic calculus and instead introduced the idea that as Bentham &uotes the greatest good for the greatest number is purely &uantity, what would stop one person from  being destroyed by the ma+ority- "herefore "herefore distinguishing between higher  and lower pleasures. Mill explains that higher pleasures are &ualitatively  better and more important that lower lower pleasures. Mill &uotes that a happiness which does not include a higher pleasure was not a considered a pleasure by human beings higher pleasures should be considered better  even if we find ourselves unhappy because we have forgone &uantity. (f both mill and Bentham were presented with the situation of gang rape, Bentham would use the rule of /the greatest good for the greatest number of which is based on &uantity0 therefore Bentham would say that gang rape produces a greater good for the perpetrators, as there is a higher &uantity of pleasures. 1owever, Mill would act against this in favou r of /&uality over &uantity0 and argue that the happiness of a gang rape victim is so low that it overrules the happiness of the perpetrators and is therefore not considered a higher pleasure and as a result is not

considered happiness by a human being. "his leads to the absolute theory that gang rape is always wrong. 1owever it must be considered that Bentham and mill produced these ideas eras ago and that arguments have changed in time. Several differences between mills and Bentham0s theory of utilitarianism arise as Jeremy Bentham believed that the act that produces the most happiness is the most moral, for example abortion may lead to the happiness of one person, but for another to believe that this act is wrong. "his is the idea of the /utility principle0 2 the rightness or wrongness of an action is +udged by its utility or usefulness to produce pleasure. Mill disagreed with Bentham0s opinion and claimed  1uman beings have more than animal desires and, once we 'now that, we do not regard anything as true happiness that includes satisfaction of those desires.  Mill also spo'e about the idea of it being better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. 3*leasures of the mind are higher than those of the  body, for example, bodily pleasures such as food, drin', and sex are those that do not have a higher pleasure than those that are intellectually demanding. "hroughout Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill0s theory0s of utilitarianism it is clear that both have contradicting and challenging views against one another, however the final difference between one another0s theory is that Bentham0s theory is constantly changing, adapting to certain situations and may even be affected by emotions. 1owever (t is very clear that Mills theory0s stay consistent and do not contradict each other.