Utilitarianism has been around in some form or another or nearly 2500 years when the ancient Greeks first came up with the ethical principle ?primum non nocere' translated into ?First, Do No Harm' and is what seems to be one of the first traces of utility. However Chinese philosopher Mozi was one of the first people to have an ethical system based on utilitarianism when founded his school in Mohism.
Some 1800 years later Jeremy Bentham proposed the principle of utilitarianism in Europe believing that pleasure and pain were the two ?absolutes' of the world in the world almost like ?black and white' and he showed us this with this statement ?nature has put man under the governance of two sovereign masters: pleasure and pain'. From here Bentham developed the ?Greatest Happiness Principle' (GHP) which is creating ?the greatest happiness for the greatest number'.
This was furthered by John Stuart Mill who reckoned that the intellectual, cultural and spiritual pleasures connecting more to emotion and feelings were of more value and meaning than actual physical pleasure.
Within Utilitarianism there are many types and forms and variations, these include; Act, Rule, Preference, Negative and motive utilitarianism. However, the two ?main' forms of utilitarianism are Act and Rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism revolves around the theory that the act which would yield the most happiness should be carried out. However, rule utilitarianism has a slight variation on this, rule utilitarianism revolves around the theory that the best act is to follow a rule that in the long term would create the most happiness.
A good example for this conflict is maybe traffic lights or even a being in a clue. If there was a cue in a shop and you're quickly getting ...