... would make the principle selfish. Bentham operates on the General Benevolence idea, that you should never put your happiness before others, as everyone is equal in their right to happiness. This of course gives rise to the question of how to measure the happiness that results from an action, although Bentham does give guidelines for that. He argued that the duration of the happiness, the intensity, the likelihood of it should measure it, as well as the freedom from pain it involves, and if it might lead onto further happiness. Bentham's view is that following this principle of seeking the happiness of the majority would also benefit the individual who did so, and would itself lead to that individual's greatest happiness. It is a popular theory and does not require any specialist beliefs to follow, as it does not place any emphasis on pre-ordained rules that usually come from some ...

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