Utilitarianism
E13840
Utilitarianism is a foundational work of moral philosophy that systematically defends the view that actions are right insofar as they promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Utilitarianism canonical | 8 |
| utilitarianism | 2 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T124343 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Utilitarianism Context triple: [John Stuart Mill, notableWork, Utilitarianism]
-
A.
Ethics
Ethics is Baruch Spinoza’s seminal philosophical treatise that systematically presents his metaphysical, ethical, and theological views in a geometric, axiomatic style.
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B.
Veritas et Utilitas
Veritas et Utilitas is the Latin motto of Howard University, expressing its commitment to truth and service.
-
C.
Stoicism
Stoicism is an ancient Greek and Roman philosophical school that teaches cultivating virtue, rationality, and inner resilience to achieve tranquility amid life's hardships.
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D.
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a 19th-century British philosopher and political economist known for his influential works on utilitarianism, liberty, and liberal democratic theory.
-
E.
On Human Nature
On Human Nature is a landmark 1978 book by biologist Edward O. Wilson that explores the biological and evolutionary foundations of human behavior and won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Utilitarianism Target entity description: Utilitarianism is a foundational work of moral philosophy that systematically defends the view that actions are right insofar as they promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
-
A.
Ethics
Ethics is Baruch Spinoza’s seminal philosophical treatise that systematically presents his metaphysical, ethical, and theological views in a geometric, axiomatic style.
-
B.
Veritas et Utilitas
Veritas et Utilitas is the Latin motto of Howard University, expressing its commitment to truth and service.
-
C.
Stoicism
Stoicism is an ancient Greek and Roman philosophical school that teaches cultivating virtue, rationality, and inner resilience to achieve tranquility amid life's hardships.
-
D.
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a 19th-century British philosopher and political economist known for his influential works on utilitarianism, liberty, and liberal democratic theory.
-
E.
On Human Nature
On Human Nature is a landmark 1978 book by biologist Edward O. Wilson that explores the biological and evolutionary foundations of human behavior and won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
consequentialist theory
ⓘ
ethical theory ⓘ moral philosophy theory ⓘ normative ethical theory ⓘ |
| aimsAt | greatest happiness for the greatest number ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
individual actions
ⓘ
institutional design ⓘ laws ⓘ social policies ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Henry Sidgwick
ⓘ
Jeremy Bentham ⓘ John Stuart Mill ⓘ Peter Singer ⓘ |
| claims | each person's happiness counts equally ⓘ |
| contrastsWith |
deontological ethics
ⓘ
virtue ethics ⓘ |
| criticizedFor |
demandingness
ⓘ
interpersonal comparison of utility problems ⓘ neglect of justice and fairness ⓘ potentially justifying rights violations ⓘ |
| developedFrom | hedonism ⓘ |
| developedIn |
18th century
ⓘ
19th century ⓘ |
| emphasizes | overall consequences of actions ⓘ |
| evaluates | actions by their consequences for overall well-being ⓘ |
| hasCorePrinciple |
greatest happiness principle
ⓘ
principle of utility ⓘ |
| hasDebateOn | measuring and comparing utilities ⓘ |
| hasVariant |
act utilitarianism
ⓘ
average utilitarianism ⓘ negative utilitarianism ⓘ preference utilitarianism ⓘ rule utilitarianism ⓘ total utilitarianism ⓘ |
| holdsThat |
actions are right insofar as they promote happiness
ⓘ
actions are wrong insofar as they produce unhappiness ⓘ |
| influenced |
cost–benefit analysis
ⓘ
modern welfare economics ⓘ public policy ethics ⓘ |
| isFormOf | consequentialism ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
classical liberalism
ⓘ
social reform movements ⓘ |
| seeksToMaximize |
aggregate welfare
ⓘ
overall happiness ⓘ |
| supports | impartial consideration of interests ⓘ |
| usesConcept |
pain
ⓘ
pleasure ⓘ utility ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Utilitarianism Description of subject: Utilitarianism is a foundational work of moral philosophy that systematically defends the view that actions are right insofar as they promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
Referenced by (10)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.