Greatest Good for the Greatest Number essays

Greatest Good for the Greatest Number essays The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number Bentham is remembered both as a pioneer of social science and as an advocate of administrative and legal reform. The reforms in which he pressed for were directed towards his four ends of good government: subsistence (a means of providing oneself with the necessities of life, bare necessities, Websters 1992), abundance, security, and equality. Benthams ideas on legislation were taught through a circle of pupils and disciples that believed in guaranteed employment, minimum wages, and a variety of social benefits (Akamac). Bentham published Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789) in which he argued that the proper objective of all conduct and legislation is the greatest happiness of the greatest number and that pain and pleasure are the sovereign masters governing mans conduct (Spartacus). Bentham, also being a proponent of utilitarianism (doctrine that states that the moral and political rightness of an action is determined by its utility, Websters 1992) believed that the determining factor of a moral action is based on whether the action contributes to the good of society. The easiest approach to take on this is that in situations where one must decide between a good for an individual and a good for society, then society should prevail, despite the wrong being done to an individual. This is because generally the utility or good derived from that action outweighs the small amount of harm done because the harm is done only to one whereas the good is multiplied by the many who benefit (Pollock, 33). Another approach to help explain this theory would be if there were an individual with a newly discovered disease that could prove to be a major threat to society. Because this individual is the only known human carrier of this disease, should this person be quarantined in order t ...