Utilitarianism is usually connected with the specific doctrines of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.

Utilitarianism is usually connected with the specific doctrines of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, who both took the goodness of consequences to be measured by their effect on the happiness of human beings. Bentham was both the founder of utilitarianism and a contemporary of Mill's father, who ensured that his son received a strict utilitarian education based upon Bentham's theories . It is not surprising, then, that aspects of Mill's views on utilitarianism share fundamental …

…deviates somewhat from Bentham's definition of happiness, and took a qualitative stance on the issue, rejecting Bentham's quantitative views. Mill's abhorrence toward Bentham's hedonic calculus necessitated the classification of his Utilitarianism as an idealistic rule utilitarianism, while Bentham's doctrine is distinctly act utilitarianism. Although both Bentham and Mill's theories both possess intrinsic worth, it is evident that Mill's utilitarianism far surpasses Bentham's in persuasiveness, practicality, and intrinsic worth, and finally, is infinitely more philosophically satisfying.