John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism according to John Stuart Mill is a theory that is based on humans and our principles, "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness." Mill talks about the principle of utility and how that ties into utilitarianism. The principle of utility basically states that human actions and behaviors are ok if they promote pleasure or happiness. Also, that anything that causes pain or unhappiness is wrong. An example of this is a child does good in school so they get ice cream. The ice cream brings happiness and or pleasure to the child so actions of the child doing good are ok. But if the child does bad in class and gets a spanking from his or her parents it causes pain and or unhappiness. This tells you that the child being bad in class is wrong.

Higher pleasures being more mental/intellectual pleasures. This could be anything like a love or appreciation for the arts. Things such as learning how to play an instrument, learning philosophy going to theater plays, and reading. While lower pleasures would be things like eating food, drinking alcohol. The idea of low level pleasure can be compared to that of an animal. It takes a lot less to satisfy an animal than it does a human. Animals are satisfied in open areas, when they eat, and when they play. Compare that to the needs of humans and see why those pleasures are considered lower level pleasures. Mill later writes about the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth. Mill’s writes “in the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth, we read the complete spirit of the ethics of utility”. What this essentially means is treat others the way you want would like to be treated. This is essential for moral decision making. Before an action is done it is wise to consider how would that action would affect those around you, and would you like it if that person did that action to