English

Noun

felicific calculus ‎(uncountable)

1. (historical, philosophy, economics) A quasi-mathematical technique proposed by 19th-century utilitarian ethical theorists for determining the net amount of happiness, pleasure, or utility resulting from an action, sometimes regarded as a precursor of cost-benefit analysis.
   • 1918, Wesley C. Mitchell, "Bentham's Felicific Calculus," Political Science Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 2, p. 164:

     Bentham's way of becoming the Newton of the moral world was to develop the "felicific calculus."

Synonyms

• hedonic calculus, hedonistic calculus, moral arithmetic, utility calculus

References

1. ↑ The technique of felicific calculus was famously described by Bentham in chapter 4 of An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789), although Bentham did not use the precise term "felicific calculus" in that work.