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
James Bentham James Bentham James Bentham (10 March 1709? – 17 November 1794) was an English clergyman, antiquarian and historian of Ely Cathedral. Bentham was a son of the Rev. Samuel Bentham ("c".1681–1733), registrar of Ely Cathedral and vicar of Witchford near Ely, and his wife, Philippa Willen ("c".1681–1747). The Benthams were a clerical family, and James was the sixth priest in a continuous descent from Thomas Bentham (1513/14–1579), Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. His elder brother, Edward (1707–1776) became a distinguished theologian and natural philosopher, and Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford. The family were distant cousins of the philosopher and