utilitarians
Maximizers of aggregate welfare
Utilitarians are people who follow utilitarianism—the philosophical view that the right action is whatever produces the greatest good for the greatest number.
The term applies both to formal philosophers like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill and to anyone who reasons about ethics in terms of outcomes and overall welfare: Utilitarians would say lying is acceptable if it prevents greater harm.
More loosely, utilitarian describes practical, functional things valued for usefulness over beauty: utilitarian furniture, a utilitarian approach to design.
Utilitarian ethics founder
- MillVictorian ethicist's surname
- consequentialistsEthics judges by results
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
- greatest happinessMaximum possible well-being
morality · hedonism · principle · calculus · maximizers · reformers · rationalists · empiricists
Those valuing practical results
- functionalistsThose prioritizing practical purpose
- efficiencyProductive without waste
- cost-benefitComparing expenditure to return
- outcomesFinal results achieved
results-oriented · practical · economizers · optimizers · realists · strategists · planners · administrators
People working for causes
- reformersAdvocates for institutional improvement
- abolitionistsThose opposing human bondage
- suffragistsVoting rights activists
- philanthropistsGenerous supporters of good causes
humanitarians · progressives · advocates · campaigners · interventionists · charity · welfare · rights
Bentham
Utilitarian ethics founder
- MillVictorian ethicist's surname
- consequentialistsEthics judges by results
- ethicsStudy of right conduct
greatest happiness · morality · hedonism · principle · calculus · maximizers · reformers · rationalists · empiricists · secular
pragmatists
Those valuing practical results
- functionalistsThose prioritizing practical purpose
- efficiencyProductive without waste
- cost-benefitComparing expenditure to return
outcomes · results-oriented · practical · economizers · optimizers · realists · strategists · planners · administrators · policymakers
activists
People working for causes
- reformersAdvocates for institutional improvement
- abolitionistsThose opposing human bondage
- suffragistsVoting rights activists
philanthropists · humanitarians · progressives · advocates · campaigners · interventionists · charity · welfare · rights · equality
- thinkersthinkers, thinker, philosophers, philosopher, Aristotle
- philosophersAristotle, Plato, Socrates, Kant, Descartes
- believersbeliever, believers, adherent, devotee, theist
- ethicsmorality, deontology, dignity, sanctity of life, morals
- philosophyethics, logic, metaphysics, ontology, epistemology
- realistspragmatists
utilitariansindividualists
Those prioritizing personal independence
libertarians · human rights advocates · communitarians · egalitarians
- utilitarian designPrioritizing practicality over ornamentation