Bentham theorized that people rationally choose their behaviors by weighing the pleasure or benefit of their actions against the potential pain or cost. This process is known as: a. hedonistic calculus. b. the avoidance principle. c. the veil of ignorance. d. ethical formalism.

Hedonistic Calculus

Explanation: Bentham's *Hedonistic Calculus* states that *"people rationally choose their behaviours by weighing the pleasure or benefit of their actions against the potential pain"*. He believed that moral rightness or wrongness of an action is the function of the amount of pleasure or pain that is produced.

This theory is based on certain variables. These include:

1) Duration:How long the pleasure would last.

2) Fecundity: The probability that the action would be followed by sensations of that same kind.

3)Extent:How many people the action would affect.

4) Purity:The probability that the action will not be followed by sensations of the opposite kind.

5) Intensity:How strong the pleasure is.

Therefore,the main point of Bentham's *Hedonistic Calculus* is that it is *based on benefit of pleasure over pain*.

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