... principle' or 'the principle of utility'--a term which he borrows from Hume. In adverting to this principle, however, he was not referring to just the usefulness of things or actions, but to the extent to which these things or actions promote the general happiness. Specifically, then, what is morally right is that which produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people; happiness being determined by reference to the presence of pleasure and the absence of pain. Bentham writes, "By the principle of utility is meant that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question: or, what is the same thing in other words, to promote or to oppose that happiness." And Bentham emphasises that this applies to "every action whatsoever." That which ...

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