Francis Hutcheson
(1694-1746)
“In comparing the moral Qualitys of Actions, in order to regulate our Election among various Actions propos'd, or to find which of them has the greatest moral Excellency, we are led by our moral Sense of Virtue to judge thus; that in equal Degrees of Happiness, expected to proceed from the Action, the Virtue is in proportion to the Number of Persons to whom the Happiness shall extend; ... so that, that Action is best, which procures the greatest Happiness for the greatest numbers; and that, worst, which, in like manner, occasions Misery.”
Francis Hutcheson
Inquiry into the Origins of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, in Two Treatises, 1725: Sect. 3.8
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