Question

According to the text, what did Bentham consider the fundamental unit of human action, replacing concepts like natural rights?

• A. Liberty
• B. Self-determination
• C. Utility
• D. Happiness for the greatest number
• A. Ethics must be empirical, quantifiable, and reproducible.
• B. Utility must be used to reject religious authority.
• C. All social morals and government legislation should aim for producing the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
• D. The character of the actor is the most important aspect of an ethical act.
• A. The character of the actor
• B. The actor's motivation
• C. The particular circumstances surrounding the act
• D. The consequences or ultimate purpose of an act
• A. Universality
• B. Quantifiability
• C. Rationality
• D. Objectivity
• A. Empirical
• B. Verifiable
• C. Theological
• D. Quantifiable

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The question asks to identify what Jeremy Bentham proposed as the basic element of human action, specifically as a replacement for the idea of "natural rights."
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
To answer this, we need to find the part of the passage where Bentham's view on "natural rights" is discussed.
The second paragraph states: "Bentham rejected religious authority and wrote a rebuttal to the Declaration of Independence in which he railed against natural rights as 'rhetorical nonsense, nonsense upon stilts.' Instead, the fundamental unit of human action for him was utility—solid, certain, and factual."
This sentence explicitly states that Bentham rejected natural rights and, in their place ("Instead"), considered "utility" to be the fundamental unit of human action.
Step 3: Final Answer:
Based on the text, the correct answer is Utility. Therefore, option (C) is the correct choice.

Answer 2

The question asks what Bentham put in place of natural rights as the basic unit of human action. Since the passage gives an explicit answer, checking each option against the specific sentence that discusses this replacement is the way to confirm it.

1. Liberty: liberty is named in the passage only as part of the ideals behind the American and French revolutions, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of the Rights of Man, not as Bentham's replacement for natural rights.
2. Self-determination: like liberty, this appears earlier as a revolutionary-era ideal, not as the term Bentham substituted for natural rights.
3. Utility: the passage states directly that after rejecting natural rights as rhetorical nonsense, nonsense upon stilts, Bentham held that the fundamental unit of human action for him was utility, solid, certain, and factual. This is the exact replacement concept the question asks about.
4. Happiness for the greatest number: this phrase describes the goal utilitarian morals and legislation should aim for, not the basic unit of human action itself, so it answers a related but different question.

Only utility is named as the specific unit that stands in for natural rights in Bentham's system.

Therefore, the correct answer is Utility.

Answer 3

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The question asks to identify Bentham's "fundamental axiom" that forms the basis of utilitarianism, according to the provided text.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The passage explicitly defines this axiom. In the third paragraph, the text says: "Bentham's fundamental axiom, which underlies utilitarianism, was that all social morals and government legislation should aim for producing the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people."
This sentence directly matches the statement in option (C).
Option (A) describes the conditions Bentham believed ethics should meet, but it is not the fundamental axiom itself.
Option (B) mentions something Bentham did, but it's not his core axiom.
Option (D) is contrary to what the passage says utilitarianism emphasizes (it focuses on consequences, not the actor's character).
Step 3: Final Answer:
The passage explicitly identifies the statement in option (C) as Bentham's fundamental axiom.

Answer 4

The question asks for Bentham's fundamental axiom specifically, so the task is to separate the one sentence the passage explicitly labels as the axiom from other true but different statements nearby in the text.

1. Ethics must be empirical, quantifiable, and reproducible: this describes the conditions Bentham wanted ethics to satisfy so it could resemble a science, a methodological requirement, not the axiom itself.
2. Utility must be used to reject religious authority: the passage says Bentham rejected religious authority and used utility instead of natural rights, but it never frames this as his fundamental axiom; it is a separate biographical and philosophical point.
3. All social morals and government legislation should aim for producing the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people: the passage introduces this sentence with the exact words, Bentham's fundamental axiom, which underlies utilitarianism, was that, making this the one option that is explicitly tagged as the axiom in the text.
4. The character of the actor is the most important aspect of an ethical act: the passage later says utilitarianism emphasises consequences rather than the character of the actor, so this option describes the opposite of what utilitarianism actually values.

Only the third option is the sentence the passage itself names as Bentham's fundamental axiom.

Therefore, the correct answer is all social morals and government legislation should aim for producing the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

Answer 5

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The question asks what aspect of an action is the main focus of utilitarianism, according to the passage.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The third paragraph describes the focus of utilitarianism. It states: "Utilitarianism, therefore, emphasizes the consequences or ultimate purpose of an act rather than the character of the actor, the actor's motivation, or the particular circumstances surrounding the act."
This sentence clearly indicates that the primary emphasis is on the "consequences or ultimate purpose." Options (A), (B), and (C) are explicitly mentioned as aspects that are not the focus.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The text directly states that utilitarianism emphasizes the consequences or ultimate purpose of an act. Thus, option (D) is correct.

Answer 6

This question is almost a direct quote-check, since the passage lists exactly these four items in one sentence and states which one utilitarianism emphasises over the rest.

1. The character of the actor: the passage explicitly lists this as something utilitarianism looks past, since it evaluates the act's result rather than who performed it.
2. The actor's motivation: similarly listed as secondary, utilitarianism does not judge an act mainly by why the person did it.
3. The particular circumstances surrounding the act: also listed as something de-emphasised, since the specific situation is not the main basis for judgment either.
4. The consequences or ultimate purpose of an act: the passage states plainly that utilitarianism, therefore, emphasises the consequences or ultimate purpose of an act rather than the other three factors, making this the one aspect it actually prioritises.

The sentence structure itself, emphasises one thing rather than the rest, directly names consequences as the one thing valued above the rest.

Therefore, the correct answer is the consequences or ultimate purpose of an act.

Answer 7

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The question asks for the name of the characteristic of utilitarianism that is described as operating "beyond individual thought, desire, and perspective."
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The end of the third paragraph lists four characteristics of utilitarianism. We need to find the one that matches the given description.
The text lists them as:
(1) universality...
(2) objectivity, meaning it operates beyond individual thought, desire, and perspective;
(3) rationality...
(4) quantifiability...
The description in the question directly corresponds to the definition provided for "objectivity."
Step 3: Final Answer:
The passage defines objectivity as the characteristic that operates beyond individual thought, desire, and perspective. Therefore, option (D) is the correct answer.

Answer 8

The passage lists four named characteristics of utilitarianism, each with its own one-line definition attached. The question gives one of those definitions and asks which characteristic it belongs to, so matching definition to name is the task.

1. Universality: the passage defines this as applying to all acts of human behaviour, even those that appear to be done from altruistic motives, a definition about breadth of coverage, not about being independent of personal perspective.
2. Quantifiability: defined in the passage as resting in its reliance on utility, about measurability, not about operating beyond individual thought or desire.
3. Rationality: defined as not being based in metaphysics or theology, about the basis of the theory's reasoning, not about individual perspective either.
4. Objectivity: the passage defines this exact characteristic as meaning it operates beyond individual thought, desire, and perspective, which is word for word the description given in the question.

Matching the question's wording to the passage's own list of definitions leaves objectivity as the only exact match.

Therefore, the correct answer is Objectivity.

Answer 9

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The question asks which characteristic is not a requirement of Bentham's scientific ethical system as described in the text. This is an "except" question, so we need to find the option that doesn't fit with the description in the passage.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The second paragraph describes the conditions Bentham's ethical system had to meet. It says: "Ethics had to be empirical, quantifiable, verifiable, and reproducible across time and space." This confirms that (A), (B), and (D) are required characteristics.
Later, in the third paragraph, the text describes rationality as a characteristic of utilitarianism "because it is not based in metaphysics or theology." This shows that Bentham's system actively rejected a theological basis.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The passage lists empirical, verifiable, and quantifiable as requirements for Bentham's system, while stating it is specifically not based on theology. Therefore, "Theological" is the correct exception.

Answer 10

This is an except question, so the goal is to find the one option that is explicitly excluded from Bentham's scientific approach to ethics, rather than one that is included in it.

1. Empirical: the passage states ethics had to be empirical, quantifiable, verifiable, and reproducible, so empirical is one of the required conditions, not the exception.
2. Verifiable: this also appears directly in that same list of requirements, so it too is included, not excluded.
3. Theological: the passage separately explains that rationality, one of utilitarianism's characteristics, exists because it is not based in metaphysics or theology. This shows theology is the one basis Bentham's system actively rejects, making it the exception the question is looking for.
4. Quantifiable: like empirical and verifiable, this is named directly in the list of required conditions for ethics.

Three of the four options are stated requirements, while the fourth, theological, is the one basis the passage says the system explicitly rejects.

Therefore, the correct answer is Theological.