List of utilitarians
Encyclopedia
This is an incomplete list of advocates of utilitarianism
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Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...
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- John Austin
- Jacob M. AppelJacob M. AppelJacob M. Appel is an American author, bioethicist and social critic. He is best known for his short stories, his work as a playwright, and his writing in the fields of reproductive ethics, organ donation, neuroethics and euthanasia....
- Alexander BainAlexander BainAlexander Bain was a Scottish philosopher and educationalist in the British school of empiricism who was a prominent and innovative figure in the fields of psychology, linguistics, logic, moral philosophy and education reform...
- Cesare Beccaria
- Jeremy BenthamJeremy BenthamJeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...
- Richard BrandtRichard BrandtRichard Booker Brandt was an American philosopher of the utilitarian tradition in moral philosophy. He taught at Swarthmore College before spending the bulk of his career at the University of Michigan, where he taught with Charles Stevenson and William K. Frankena and served as Chairman of the...
- Roger CrispRoger CrispRoger Stephen Crisp is Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at St. Anne’s College, Oxford. He holds the university posts of Professor of Moral Philosophy and Uehiro Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy. His work falls principally within the field of ethics, in particular metaethics, normative ethics, and...
- Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
- Francis Ysidro EdgeworthFrancis Ysidro EdgeworthFrancis Ysidro Edgeworth FBA was an Irish philosopher and political economist who made significant contributions to the methods of statistics during the 1880s...
- EpicurusEpicurusEpicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism.Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300 written works...
- Martín Diego Farrell
- Fred FeldmanFred Feldman (Philosopher)Fred Feldman is an American philosopher who specializes in ethical theory.Fred Feldman received his PhD degree in philosophy from Brown University, where he studied under Roderick Chisholm. His doctoral dissertation concerned the metaphysics of identity...
- Jonathan GloverJonathan GloverJonathan Glover is a British philosopher known for his studies on ethics. He was educated at Tonbridge School, later going on to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was a fellow and tutor in philosophy at New College, Oxford. He currently teaches ethics at King's College London...
- William GodwinWilliam GodwinWilliam Godwin was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism, and the first modern proponent of anarchism...
- Dan GoldstickDan GoldstickDaniel Goldstick is a Canadian Philosopher, writer and political activist. He is currently a Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto.-Academic biography:...
- George GroteGeorge GroteGeorge Grote was an English classical historian, best known in the field for a major work, the voluminous History of Greece, still read.-Early life:He was born at Clay Hill near Beckenham in Kent...
- Esperanza GuisánEsperanza GuisánEsperanza Guisán is a Spanish moral and political philosopher. Professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela. Devoted mainly to classical utilitarian theory.-References:...
- Élie HalévyÉlie HalévyÉlie Halévy was a French philosopher and historian who wrote studies of the British utilitarians, a history of 19th-century England and the acclaimed book of essays, Era of Tyrannies.-Biography:...
- Robin HansonRobin HansonRobin D. Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He is known as an expert on idea futures, markets and was involved in the creation of the Foresight Exchange and DARPA's FutureMAP...
- R. M. HareR. M. HareRichard Mervyn Hare was an English moral philosopher who held the post of White's Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford from 1966 until 1983. He subsequently taught for a number of years at the University of Florida...
- John HarsanyiJohn HarsanyiJohn Charles Harsanyi was a Hungarian-Australian-American economist and Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner....
- Claude Adrien HelvétiusClaude Adrien HelvétiusClaude Adrien Helvétius was a French philosopher and littérateur.-Life:...
- Sharon Hewitt
- Baron d'HolbachBaron d'HolbachPaul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach was a French-German author, philosopher, encyclopedist and a prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich in Edesheim, near Landau in the Rhenish Palatinate, but lived and worked mainly in Paris, where he kept a salon...
- Brad HookerBrad HookerBrad Hooker is a philosopher who specialises in moral philosophy. He is a Professor at the University of Reading and is best known for his work defending rule-consequentialism ....
- David HumeDavid HumeDavid Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...
- Shelly KaganShelly KaganShelly Kagan is the Clark Professor of Philosophy at Yale University and the former Henry R. Luce Professor of Social Thought and Ethics. Originally a native of Skokie, Illinois, he received his B.A. from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. from Princeton University under the supervision of Thomas...
- Zell KravinskyZell KravinskyZell Kravinsky is an American investor and utilitarian who is known for making a non-directed kidney donation to a stranger and for donating the vast majority of his personal wealth to charity. He is also a poet.-Education:Kravinsky earned two Ph.D...
- Richard LayardRichard LayardRichard Layard, Baron Layard is a British economist. He was founder-director in 1990 of, and is a current programme director at, the Centre for Economic Performance at the...
- Ludvig LindströmLudvig LindströmLudvig Andreas Lindström is a prominent and well known Swedish animal rights activist, and the founder and President of Charity International, the very first utilitarian organization in the world....
- LucretiusLucretiusTitus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is an epic philosophical poem laying out the beliefs of Epicureanism, De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe".Virtually no details have come down concerning...
- James MacKayeJames MacKayeJames Medbury MacKaye was an American engineer and philosopher.MacKaye was born in New York City, the son of actor Steele MacKaye and Mary MacKaye, and brother of poet Percy MacKaye and conservationist Benton MacKaye. He attended Grammar School No...
- Jason Gaverick Matheny
- Harriet Taylor MillHarriet Taylor MillHarriet Taylor Mill was a philosopher and women's rights advocate. Her second husband was John Stuart Mill, one of the pre-eminent thinkers of the 19th century...
- James MillJames MillJames Mill was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He was a founder of classical economics, together with David Ricardo, and the father of influential philosopher of classical liberalism, John Stuart Mill.-Life:Mill was born at Northwater Bridge, in the parish of...
- John Stuart MillJohn Stuart MillJohn Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
- Jan NarvesonJan NarvesonJan Narveson, OC is professor of philosophy emeritus at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. An anarcho-capitalist and contractarian, Narveson's form of libertarian anarchism is deeply influenced by the thought of Robert Nozick and David Gauthier.Narveson was born in Erskine,...
- Yew-Kwang NgYew-Kwang NgYew-Kwang Ng is an economist at Monash University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Nanyang University in 1966 and later a Ph.D. from Sydney University in 1971....
- Alastair NorcrossAlastair NorcrossAlastair Norcross is an Associate Professor of philosophy specializing in normative ethics, applied ethics, and political philosophy.In 2007, he transferred to University of Colorado at Boulder from Rice University, where he had been since 2002, after teaching for ten years at Southern Methodist...
- Michel OnfrayMichel OnfrayMichel Onfray is a contemporary French philosopher who adheres to hedonism, atheism and anarchism...
- Toby OrdToby OrdToby Ord is an Australian philosopher. He is the founder of Giving What We Can, an international society dedicated to the elimination of poverty in the developing world.- Career :...
- William PaleyWilliam PaleyWilliam Paley was a British Christian apologist, philosopher, and utilitarian. He is best known for his exposition of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his work Natural Theology, which made use of the watchmaker analogy .-Life:Paley was Born in Peterborough, England, and was...
- Benjamin Bloor
- David PearceDavid Pearce (philosopher)David Pearce is a British utilitarian thinker. He believes and promotes the idea that there exists a strong ethical imperative for humans to work towards the abolition of suffering in all sentient life. His book-length internet manifesto The Hedonistic Imperative details how he believes the...
- Mario A. Peña Jr.
- Philip PettitPhilip PettitPhilip Noel Pettit is an Irish philosopher and political theorist. He is Laurence Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values at Princeton University...
- Karl PopperKarl PopperSir Karl Raimund Popper, CH FRS FBA was an Austro-British philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics...
- James RachelsJames RachelsJames Rachels was an American philosopher who specialized in ethics.-Biography:Rachels was born in Columbus, Georgia, and graduated from Mercer University in 1962. He received his Ph.D. in 1967 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, studying under Professors W. D. Falk and E. M. Adams...
- Stuart RachelsStuart RachelsStuart Rachels is an International Master of chess and the son of the philosopher James Rachels . He tied for first place in the 1989-90 U.S. Chess Championship. Although no longer an active player, his FIDE rating is 2485, and his USCF rating is 2605.Rachels grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. He...
- David RicardoDavid RicardoDavid Ricardo was an English political economist, often credited with systematising economics, and was one of the most influential of the classical economists, along with Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill. He was also a member of Parliament, businessman, financier and speculator,...
- Bertrand RussellBertrand RussellBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
- Richard D. RyderRichard D. RyderRichard Hood Jack Dudley Ryder is a British psychologist. He is a former Mellon Professor at Tulane University, New Orleans. He served as chairman of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Council from 1977 to 1979, and is a past president of Britain's Liberal Democrat Animal...
- William ShawWilliam Shaw (philosopher)William H. Shaw was born on July 31, 1948 and is a professor and former Chair of the Philosophy Department at San Jose State University. He is the author of Marx's Theory of History: A Defense, Business Ethics, 4th ed., Moral Issues in Business, 8th ed...
- Henry SidgwickHenry SidgwickHenry Sidgwick was an English utilitarian philosopher and economist. He was one of the founders and first president of the Society for Psychical Research, a member of the Metaphysical Society, and promoted the higher education of women...
- R. I. Sikora
- Peter SingerPeter SingerPeter Albert David Singer is an Australian philosopher who is the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne...
- J. J. C. SmartJ. J. C. SmartJohn Jamieson Carswell "Jack" Smart AC is an Australian philosopher and academic who is currently Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Monash University, Australia...
- Biagio Collura
- Herbert SpencerHerbert SpencerHerbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
- Timothy Sprigge
- James Fitzjames StephenJames Fitzjames StephenSir James Fitzjames Stephen, 1st Baronet was an English lawyer, judge and writer. He was created 1st Baronet Stephen by Queen Victoria.-Early life:...
- L. W. SumnerL. W. SumnerLeonard Wayne Sumner is a Canadian philosopher notable for his work on normative and applied ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of law....
- Torbjörn TännsjöTorbjörn TännsjöTorbjörn Tännsjö is a Swedish professor of philosophy. He has held a chair in Practical Philosophy at Stockholm University since 2002 and he is Affiliated Professor of Medical Ethics at Karolinska Institute...
- William Thompson
- Robert WrightRobert Wright (journalist)Robert Wright is an American journalist, scholar, and prize-winning author of best-selling books about science, evolutionary psychology, history, religion, and game theory, including The Evolution of God, Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, The Moral Animal, and Three Scientists and Their Gods:...
- Mary WollstonecraftMary WollstonecraftMary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book...
- Ludwig von MisesLudwig von MisesLudwig Heinrich Edler von Mises was an Austrian economist, philosopher, and classical liberal who had a significant influence on the modern Libertarian movement and the "Austrian School" of economic thought.-Biography:-Early life:...
- Kristiin A. Jeican
- Davinder Singh Cheema
- Marcus Chang