utilitarianism

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A system of ethics based on the premise that something's value may be measured by its usefulness.
  2. The theory that action should be directed toward achieving the "greatest happiness for the greatest number of people" (hedonistic universalism), or one of various related theories.
  3. Practicality, functionality, as opposed to e.g. aesthetics.

Pronunciation

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-utilitarianism.wav

Word forms

utilitarianism utilitarianisms

Etymology

From utilitarian + -ism.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.