Utilitarianism

(yoo-til-e-ta're-ăn-izm.) [From L. utilitas, usefulne .) (Philos.) The name of the peculiar theory of Ethics, or of the ground of moral obligation, that adopts, as the criterion of right, the happine of mankind. The word " Utility" was employed, in this acceptation, by Jeremy Bentham; the form " Utilitarianism " was first used by John Stuart Mill. [s. 926]