hedonic calculus

The hedonic calculus is a concept within utilitarianism, a philosophical tradition that posits actions are right if they promote happiness and wrong if they cause unhappiness. This calculus, as envisioned by Jeremy Bentham, suggests that one could theoretically measure and sum the units of pleasure and pain likely to result from an action for all affected individuals to determine its overall good or evil tendency.1

This idea is closely linked to hedonism, the ethical view that pleasure is the ultimate good. While Bentham believed in a quantifiable "hedonic calculus," modern interpretations acknowledge the practical difficulties in such precise measurement. The core idea remains that consequences, particularly those related to pleasure and pain, are central to evaluating the morality of an action.12