Felicific calculus Felicific calculus The felicific calculus is an algorithm formulated by utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) for calculating the degree or amount of pleasure that a specific action is likely to cause. Bentham, an ethical hedonist, believed the moral rightness or wrongness of an action to be a function of the amount of pleasure or pain that it produced. The felicific calculus could, in principle at least, determine the moral status of any considered act. The algorithm is also known as the utility calculus, the hedonistic calculus and the hedonic calculus. To be included in this calculation are several variables (or
The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham of an eventual 14); and the "Works". The "Works" volumes are not sequentially numbered. Those volumes which have been published to date are as follows: The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham is a series of volumes which, when complete, will form a definitive edition of the writings of the philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). It includes texts which Bentham published (or which were published in his name) during his lifetime; and also the many texts which remained unpublished at his death, and which exist only in manuscript. The "Collected Works" is intended to