The utilitarians are a tradition of moral philosophers, founded by Jeremy Bentham and developed by John Stuart Mill, Henry Sidgwick, and their successors, who hold that the right action is that which maximizes aggregate well-being or utility. The tradition spans classical, preference, and rule-based variants and has been enormously influential in normative ethics, political philosophy, and public policy. Utilitarians have also engaged extensively in metaethical debates about the meaning and logic of moral language.
Formulated and systematized the principle of utility as the foundation of moral theory
Developed act, rule, and preference variants of utilitarian theory
Applied utilitarian reasoning to social reform, law, and political economy
Contributed to metaethical debates on the logic and semantics of moral language
Influenced modern welfare economics, population ethics, and bioethics