Three Utilitarians: Hume, Bentham, and Mill

Abstract

Utilitarianism has been one of the biggest streams in ethics since a long time ago. Prior to Mill’s activity as its spokesman (Mill 1833, 1838, 1861), it is said that Jeremy Bentham initially set forth the doctrine. The aim of this paper is to clarify the relationship of these three thinkers, Hume, Bentham, and Mill, in the context of utilitarianism. Through discussion, we shall figure out how and why utilitarianism is trustworthy.

Keywords

• utilitarianism
• Hume
• Bentham
• Mill