---
title: "Bentham's Felicific Calculus: Ethics | Model Diplomat"
description: "Bentham's Felicific Calculus quantifies pleasure and pain to assess moral worth, essential for UPSC GS4 ethics and utilitarian decision-making."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/bentham-felicific-calculus"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- The felicific calculus is Jeremy Bentham's method for quantifying the pleasure and pain produced by an action to determine its moral worth under utilitarianism.
- What are the seven criteria of Bentham's felicific calculus?
- How does Bentham's calculus differ from Mill's utilitarianism?
- Why is the felicific calculus criticised for ignoring justice?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

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In its 2006 Stern Review on the economics of climate change, the UK Treasury weighed the intensity, duration, and certainty of future climate harms against present mitigation costs—reasoning structurally descended from Bentham's felicific calculus.

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