The Principle of Asceticism is Jeremy Bentham's counterpart to his Principle of Utility, that is, that people should act according to what they think will cause the most pleasure and least pain for the individual, group, community, world, whichever applies. The Principle of Asceticism is any principle that acts counter to this, such as religious sacrifice. "Approving of actions in as far as they tend to diminish his happiness; disapproving of them in as far as they tend to augment it." Bentham went on to say that some religions and moralists uphold this principle, and basically said that they were wrong.