"felicific calculus" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Widely attributed to British philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), but apparently used only by his successors.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "?"
      },
      "expansion": "felicific calculus",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Economics",
          "orig": "en:Economics",
          "parents": [
            "Social sciences",
            "Sciences",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Philosophy",
          "orig": "en:Philosophy",
          "parents": [
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            "Fundamental"
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          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1918, Wesley C. Mitchell, “Bentham's Felicific Calculus”, in Political Science Quarterly, volume 33, number 2, page 164",
          "text": "Bentham's way of becoming the Newton of the moral world was to develop the \"felicific calculus.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "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."
      ],
      "id": "en-felicific_calculus-en-noun-l4QjaPUY",
      "links": [
        [
          "philosophy",
          "philosophy"
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        [
          "economics",
          "economics"
        ],
        [
          "quasi-",
          "quasi-"
        ],
        [
          "mathematical",
          "mathematical"
        ],
        [
          "technique",
          "technique"
        ],
        [
          "utilitarian",
          "utilitarian"
        ],
        [
          "ethical",
          "ethical"
        ],
        [
          "theorist",
          "theorist"
        ],
        [
          "net",
          "net"
        ],
        [
          "happiness",
          "happiness"
        ],
        [
          "pleasure",
          "pleasure"
        ],
        [
          "utility",
          "utility"
        ],
        [
          "precursor",
          "precursor"
        ],
        [
          "cost-benefit analysis",
          "cost-benefit analysis"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(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."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "hedonic calculus"
        },
        {
          "word": "hedonistic calculus"
        },
        {
          "word": "moral arithmetic"
        },
        {
          "word": "utility calculus"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "economics",
        "human-sciences",
        "philosophy",
        "science",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "felicific calculus"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "felicific calculus"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "Widely attributed to British philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), but apparently used only by his successors.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "?"
      },
      "expansion": "felicific calculus",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
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        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English nouns with unknown or uncertain plurals",
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Economics",
        "en:Philosophy"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1918, Wesley C. Mitchell, “Bentham's Felicific Calculus”, in Political Science Quarterly, volume 33, number 2, page 164",
          "text": "Bentham's way of becoming the Newton of the moral world was to develop the \"felicific calculus.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "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."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "philosophy",
          "philosophy"
        ],
        [
          "economics",
          "economics"
        ],
        [
          "quasi-",
          "quasi-"
        ],
        [
          "mathematical",
          "mathematical"
        ],
        [
          "technique",
          "technique"
        ],
        [
          "utilitarian",
          "utilitarian"
        ],
        [
          "ethical",
          "ethical"
        ],
        [
          "theorist",
          "theorist"
        ],
        [
          "net",
          "net"
        ],
        [
          "happiness",
          "happiness"
        ],
        [
          "pleasure",
          "pleasure"
        ],
        [
          "utility",
          "utility"
        ],
        [
          "precursor",
          "precursor"
        ],
        [
          "cost-benefit analysis",
          "cost-benefit analysis"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(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."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ],
      "topics": [
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        "human-sciences",
        "philosophy",
        "science",
        "sciences"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "felicific calculus"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "hedonic calculus"
    },
    {
      "word": "hedonistic calculus"
    },
    {
      "word": "moral arithmetic"
    },
    {
      "word": "utility calculus"
    }
  ],
  "word": "felicific calculus"
}