Chapter XIV: Ultimate Good

1. The notion of Virtue, as commonly conceived, cannot without a logical circle be identified with the notion of Ultimate Good: 391-394

2. nor is it in accordance with Common Sense to regard Subjective Rightness of Will, or other elements of Perfection, as constituting Ultimate Good. 394-395

3. What is ultimately good or desirable must be Desirable Consciousness. 395-397

4. _i.e._ either simply Happiness, or certain objective relations of the Conscious Mind. 398-400

5. When these alternatives are fairly presented, Common Sense seems disposed to choose the former: especially as we can now explain its instinctive disinclination to admit Pleasure as ultimate end: while the other alternative leaves us without a criterion for determining the comparative value of different elements of ‘Good.’ 400-407

BOOK IV

UTILITARIANISM

CHAPTER I

THE MEANING OF UTILITARIANISM

1. The ethical theory called Utilitarianism, or Universalistic Hedonism, is to be carefully distinguished from Egoistic Hedonism: and also from any psychological theory as to the nature and origin of the Moral Sentiments. 411-413

2. The notion of ‘Greatest Happiness’ has been determined in Book ii. chap. i.: but the extent and manner of its application require to be further defined. Are we to include all Sentient Beings? and is it Total or Average Happiness that we seek to make a maximum? We also require a supplementary Principle for _Distribution_ of Happiness: the principle of Equality is _prima facie_ reasonable. 413-417

CHAPTER II

THE PROOF OF UTILITARIANISM

Common Sense demands a Proof of the first Principle of this method, more clearly than in the case of Egoism and Intuitionism. Such a proof, addressed to the Egoistic Hedonist, was in fact given in Book iii. chap. xiii. § 3: it exhibited the essence of the Utilitarian Principle as a clear and certain moral Intuition. But it is also important to examine its relation to other received maxims. 418-422