Felicific calculus private be thy end:<br> If it be public, wide let them extend<br> Such pains avoid, whichever be thy view:<br> If pains must come, let them extend to few. The units of measurements used in the felicific calculus may be termed "hedons" and "dolors". They may be regarded as similar to the utilitarian posends and negends. 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
Jeremy Bentham natural ones, it follows that Bentham does not favour the sacrifice of a few to the benefit of the many. Law professor Alan Dershowitz has quoted Bentham to argue that torture should sometimes be permitted. Bentham's "An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation" focuses on the principle of utility and how this view of morality ties into legislative practices. His principle of utility regards "good" as that which produces the greatest amount of pleasure and the minimum amount of pain and "evil" as that which produces the most pain without the pleasure. This concept of pleasure and pain