How can Utilitarianism be attacked as a moral theory?

There is no question of the important status of ethics in the majority of societies. The politics of today reinforce the prominent position of ethics through people like John Major and Tony Blair, illustrating a preoccupation with moral behaviour. Through many centuries moral philosophers have continually attempted to produce a suitable ethical theory which is applicable to all humans and to which there are no severe criticisms.

The philosophical theory which has come to be recognised as utilitarianism originally dates from the seventeenth century and is attributed to Thomas Hobbes, but the major body of thought can be seen back in classical times in the shape of Epicureanism. The work of Hobbes was revived by Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth century, although John Stuart Mill is more commonly viewed as the father of utilitarianism with his Victorian version of the doctrine. The popularity which stemmed from Mill's impressive formulation, was responsible for the abso...