Noah asked:

Who is a utilitarian thinker and what is a utilitarian theory of action? Specifically, i want to know why
Spencer and Marx were argued to be utilitarian thinkers.

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1. There are many utilitarian thinkers. Epicurus and Aristotle had utilitarian elements in their thought,
but the real beginning of utilitarianism is to be found in the Enlightenment. There is a little controversy
as to who can be called a utilitarian thinker, but Claude Helvetius, Chastellux, Priestly, Hutcheson,
Godwin and Hume are all utilitarians in one form or another. The best place to start though is with
Bentham and J.S. Mill, Especially Mill's Classic statement of the theory, Utilitarianism.In the
Twentieth Century, the most notable utilitarians have been Henry Sidgwick, R.M. Hare, J.J.C. Smart
and Peter Singer. There is an excellent short introductory work Utilitarianism For and Againstby
J.J.C. Smart and Bernard Williams, which outlines a system of utilitarian ethics, and then provides
criticism of utilitarianism. Also, Geoffrey Scarre's Utilitarianism(Routledge, 1996) is an excellent
introduction, which is especially useful on the history of the idea.

2. The most basic definition of utilitarianism is given by J.S. Mill in Utilitarianism:The creed which
accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions
are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse
of happiness. However, Bentham used 'pleasure' instead of 'happiness', and others argue that utility
can mean 'welfare' or 'satisfaction' A simple utilitarian theory of action would therefore be: :Act so as
maximize happiness (or pleasure or welfare) and minimize harm." However, some argue that this is
unrealistic, so we have rule-utilitarianism: "Act according to a set of rules which are formulated so as
to generally maximize happiness".

3. I'm afraid I can't help you with Spencer, but you might have a look at Ernest Albee, A History of
English Utilitarianism(George Allen & Unwin, 1957) It could be argued that Marx was a utilitarian
because he viewed capitalism as benefiting the few, rather than the many (the proletariat). More
welfare could be produced overall if a system which benefited all was introduced. However, it would
take a great deal of argument to show that Marx was fundamentally a utilitarian thinker, and this is not
a view which, as far as I know, is widely held.

Hope this is of help

Steve Bullock

Dept. of Politics

University of Stirling