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Essay On John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism

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1. No, that’s not necessarily true. Utilitarianism requires one to do what produces the largest utility regardless of his motive. (Mill, 1990, p. 175) In this case according to Mill one should focus on the happiness of the few people that he’s dealing with (Mill, p. 175) as he cannot measure the effects of his action on the entire population. However, if one assumes that everyone will experience the exact same amount of pleasure and pain individually; the act of ordering from Thai Kitchen is right. But dealing with three different people who may have very different personalities can potentially result in some amount of utility that one might not have expected initially. For instance, assume the person who wants Thai food; is a real foodie who cares a lot about what he eats and if he ends up having an Indian dish; the pain he will be exposed to (for example 16 Dolors) may be greater than the pleasure felt by everyone …show more content…

“[...] Mankind must by this time have acquired posi¬¬¬tive beliefs as to the effects of some actions on their happiness” (Mill, p. 176). Mill claims that throughout the years and generations, human race has evolved to understand what can generally cause them either happiness or pain. That can be the reason why humans have generally agreed upon some basic moral values. He goes on to say that it is a mistake to assume that every action that is to be done; needs to be thoroughly examined. By using obvious and extreme examples such as murder and theft (Mill, p. 176) and stating that they’re definitely injurious to one’s happiness; he demonstrates the understanding that one has; of what effects a specific action can have on human happiness and shows that the issue of time is explainable through Utilitarianism.

Citations:
Mill, J. S. (1990). Conduct and character: Readings in moral theory (M. Timmons, Ed.). Belmont, (pp. 172-176) CA: Wadsworth Pub.

Nefsky, J. (2016). Utilitarianism [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from

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