Jeremy Bentham, British philosopher of many stripes, was a strange man— stranger and more brilliant than most strange men. Aside from the following 6-step algorithm for determining the expected pleasure of a given action (aka Felicific Calculus), Bentham's will stipulated he be mummified and left sitting on his favorite chair in a glass case. The University College of London still proudly displays the garish artifact, though with a fake wax head because students kept stealing the real one. True Story.
- 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?