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John stuart mill's version of utilitarianism
Mill's definition of happiness
John stuart mill's version of utilitarianism
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He believes that the pleasure or pain a person feels is directly related to whether or not the action was right or wrong (Bentham, 39). This means that an action is right when it causes the greatest pleasure for the person or group of people who are involved. If there is a group of people and a certain action would benefit the majority of them for good, then it would be considered to be the right action. On the other hand, if the action does not benefit the majority and only benefits a few, then it would be considered to be wrong. The ultimate goal of this theory is to bring happiness to those involved and to also prevent evil and unhappiness within the group (Bentham, 39).
Essay 1 In the essay, “In Pursuit of Happiness,” Mark Kingwell presented the various definitions of happiness. He asserted that although happiness has been described and studied since the ancient Greeks, this philosophical concept remains unclear. Pursuing happiness as a personal quest has a caveat because sometimes it leads to unhappiness and frustration. He cited John Stuart Mill, a child prodigy, who learned the Greek language at a young age and had read Plato’s works at seven.
The pursuit of happiness is defined as “the fundamental right mentioned in the Declaration of Independence to freely pursue joy and live life in a way that makes you happy.” The ability to find happiness is a right guaranteed to all citizens in the United States, yet many countries do not possess the same rights as America and instead are plagued by corruption. Procuring contentment is a difficult journey for all people, but those who do not have access to knowledge will find it to be a much more daunting task. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Montag’s struggle to find joy under an oppressive regime required him to challenge his knowledge in a way he never truly had before. Happiness is analyzed constantly in the real world as well, and the philosophers and scientists who study it consistently link it to knowledge, as shown in the articles by Main, Socrates and in the article about Individualism.
Whether it is at the dinner table or in my family’s group text message, the conversation about my brother’s custody battle with my mother’s side of the family seems to remain a bitter topic, especially when discussing my role in it. When my father physically harmed my brother to the extent to which he had to go to the emergency room, the custody trial over my brother and me began. After several sources provided the judge with accusations against my father, I was the final source that needed to assert or deny my father’s abuse; with heavy consideration, I decided to lie to the judge by denying my father’s abuse. Under the principle of utilitarianism, philosophers would infer that lying is permissible if the consequences of doing so are good.
John Stuart Mill, one of the most influential philosopher of the nineteenth century, created a principle that states “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness”. This is known as the Greatest Happiness Principle which focuses on what a man ought to do to promote happiness and prevention of unhappiness. When it comes to consequences in utilitarianism, this is what categorizes an action under “right” or “wrong”. Mill’s definition of happiness is based on the amount of pain and pleasure present in the consequence of the action. Happiness is the intended pleasure and absence of pain whereas unhappiness is pain and the deprivation of
The fact that happiness is a state of well-being pursued by humans since the beginning of humanity is not new. Since the ancient Greek philosophers, happiness has always been a goal for people. However, the definition of happiness is still subjective and controversial as Mark Kingwell, an award-winning social critic, essayist, and professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, presents in his article “In pursuit of Happiness." The author begins to build his credibility by calling everyday facts and emotions, also by citing philosophers, researchers, and other authors. Using the sources effectively in a persuasive piece, Kingwell demonstrates, through examples and science researches, the difficulty in defining happiness, which can result in unhappiness.
John Stuart Mill was a pioneer in liberalism, combining his knowledge of 18th century concepts with the emerging 19th century romanticism concepts (1). Born in 1806, Mill was educated by his father, a disciplinarian who enforced his beliefs onto Mill. Along with philosopher Jeremy Bentham, they encouraged Mill in their liberal beliefs (3). He studied Latin and Greek from the early age of 8 which progressed to his studies in political economy, logic and calculus as a teenager (1). Mill eventually suffered a breakdown at a young age, making him reexamine his life purpose and the principles taught to him (2).
According to Mill, utility, which is the Greatest Happiness Principle, is defined as pleasure and the absence of pain. The important concept of utility is that “actions that are right . . . promote happiness, and those that are wrong do not promote happiness.” The actions that promote pleasure or happiness are right and are intentional. Mill mentioned that “happiness is intended pleasure”, which suggests that there are two types of pleasures.
When Mill talks about the Greatest Happiness Principle, he means happiness in reference to the generality of mankind (in general not individual). Mill states, “For that standard is not the agent’s own greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness altogether” (page 234). To this, Mill also adds in quantity and quality, saying we need to seek out the highest extent and amount of enjoyment but also reduces as much pain as possible. This meaning the greatest extent on can go to is into only to themselves but all to mankind, making it about the general not the individual.
This is connected to the idea of happiness being an intrinsic good, also said to be the utilitarian end. Mill’s views also differed from Bentham’s in the way that intellectual pleasures are higher than sensual pleasures. We get more pleasure from something that is rewarding to us as human beings rather than
Introduction: John Stuart Mill essay on Consideration On representative Government, is an argument for representative government. The ideal form of government in Mill's opinion. One of the more notable ideas Mill is that the business of government representatives is not to make legislation. Instead Mill suggests that representative bodies such as parliaments and senates are best suited to be places of public debate on the various opinions held by the population and to act as watchdogs of the professionals who create and administer laws and policy.
“On Liberty” by John Stuart Mill This reading has to do with political and social freedoms. In Chapter II, Mill reflects on whether people, either by themselves or through their tyrannical government, should be allowed to pressure anyone else’s point of view or opinion. He states that by doing so, it is basically unlawful. This is because if everyone were to agree on something but there just happens to be an odd man out, that one person would be silenced because the majority are agreeing so they’re the powerful group. But if that odd man out had the power, he would be justified in silencing mankind.
I chose to review the fifth chapter of “New Ideas From Dead Economists” titled The Stormy Mind of John Stuart Mill. John Stuart Mill was born in 1806 in London to two strict parents who began to educate their son at a very young age. Mill’s father was James Mill, a famous historian and economist, who began to teach his son Greek at the age of three. The book reports that “by eight, the boy had read Plato, Xenophon, and Diogenes” and by twelve “Mill exhausted well-stocked libraries, reading Aristotle and Aristophanes and mastering calculus and geometry” (Buchholz 93). The vast amount of knowledge that Mill gained at a young age no doubt assisted him in becoming such a well-recognized philosopher and economist.
Many classical philosophers have given their voice to the nature of human life and what entails its climax. The very nature of human beings has been investigated, broadly, to establish a comprehensive understanding often pegged on morality. Yet, such thoughts have prompted diverse viewpoints with accompanying grounds or reasons. Happiness is an unending topic of discussion in philosophy. This paper explores the similarities and differences in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism to coin a position in whether or not happiness is the ultimate end that human society aspires to acquire.
John Stuart Mill, at the very beginning of chapter 2 entitled “what is utilitarianism”. starts off by explaining to the readers what utility is, Utility is defined as pleasure itself, and the absence of pain. This leads us to another name for utility which is the greatest happiness principle. Mill claims that “actions are right in proportions as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” “By Happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain, by happiness, pain and the privation of pleasure”.
