Free Politics resources

Jeremy Bentham’s concept of utilitarianism is strongly influenced by hedonism – the notion that pleasure (and lack of pain) is the foundation of goodness and morality in human society. In his view, humans are primarily motivated by the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. This assumption led Bentham to argue for actions that lead to the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people, in other words the greatest amount of pleasure and the least amount of pain.