Utilitarianism and felicific calculus

Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think...

- Jeremy Bentham. The Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789)

The seven elements (or dimensions) were:

• Intensity: How strong is the pleasure?
• Duration: How long will the pleasure last?
• Certainty or uncertainty: How likely or unlikely is it that the pleasure will occur?
• Propinquity or remoteness: How soon will the pleasure occur?
• Fecundity: The probability that the action will be followed by sensations of the same kind.
• Purity: The probability that it will not be followed by sensations of the opposite kind.
• Extent: How many people will be affected?