Utilitarianism

Although I hear and use the word of utilitarianism very frequently in my study, I dear not to say I have a clear comprehension of it. As a matter of fact, Utilitarianism is a very complicated philosophical perspective in western tradition. However, what I know about it are mainly from discussion in secondary materials. That is to say I did not have a particular research on the area. Now I found it is urgent for me to do it because the deeper I engage in the political philosophy debates, the more necessary for me to know it better. As one can imagine, there are many variants of utilitarianism in the history from its origin to contemporary debate. It is certainly not easy for one to draw out a specific outline of the perspective. Fortunately, my supervisor is an specialized scholar in this area. So I have more good access to know the most important contributions of this school. As my pre-supervisor said, neglecting utilitarianism which is the most influential school in modern philosophy just indicates one's ignorance of knowledge. I must take utilitarianism seriously. In fact, there are many utilitarians around me. But I need a philosophical interpretation of it.