“功利主义的倡导者；一个受到最大幸福原则指导的人，”1781年，由杰里米·边沁（1748-1832）创造，源自 utility + -arian，模仿 unitarian 等词。 Utility 曾被休谟用于哲学，意指“满足所有或大多数人需求或欲望的能力”。
Utilitarian 作为形容词的使用可追溯至1802年；在1847年被用来一般指“有关功利的，关注功利而非美丽的”。
[Bentham] had a phrase, expressive of the view he took of all moral speculations to which his method had not been applied, or (which he considered as the same thing) not founded on a recognition of utility as the moral standard ; this phrase was "vague generalities." Whatever presented itself to him in such a shape, he dismissed as unworthy of notice, or dwelt upon only to denounce as absurd. He did not heed, or rather the nature of his mind prevented it from occurring to him, that these generalities contained the whole unanalyzed experience of the human race. [John Stuart Mill, "The Works of Jeremy Bentham," London and Westminster Review, August 1838]
[边沁] 有一句话，表达了他对所有未应用其方法的道德思考的看法，或者（他认为这两者是同一回事）未基于对功利作为道德标准的承认；这句话是“模糊的普遍性”。无论以何种形式呈现给他，他都将其视为不值得注意，或仅仅是为了谴责其荒谬。他没有注意到，或者说他的思维方式使他无法意识到，这些普遍性包含了人类整个未分析的经验。[约翰·斯图亚特·密尔，《杰里米·边沁文集》，伦敦与威斯敏斯特评论，1838年8月]
相关词：Utilitarianize。
