Hard question March 31, 2014 · 56:30 · 4 min
Utilitarianism explainer: Bentham, Mill, and the stuffed philosopher
Back from the break, a host explains utilitarianism: judging the good by what creates the most pleasure for the most people, tracing it to Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, and notes the Caiaphas-like logic that sacrificing one man to save the people is utilitarian. Comedy bits follow: a pun that John Stuart Mill's dad was a general who made cereals ('General Mills'), a pudding-fat-joke exchange with Boova, and the story that Bentham had himself stuffed as an 'auto-icon' now kept in a case at the University of London, with his wax head and preserved hair.