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John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism Essay

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Sam Merten Professor Crow Paper 1 RD – 10/7/14 A Criticism of Utilitarianism John Stuart Mill, in Utilitarianism, introduces the idea entitled the “Greatest Happiness Principle” to be a view of morality such that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” He finds the only desirable end to be happiness and the avoidance of unhappiness or pain, therefore postulating that all other desired things are so because they bring about pleasure. As such, this principle posits the right action to be the one which maximizes pleasure and minimizes pain (the action with the highest ratio of pleasure to pain). Said ratio does not pertain only to the individual carrying out the action but to all whom it concerns. Therefore, the subject of the action must weigh the aggregate pleasure and pain which is derived from carrying each possible action out, and choose whichever creates the most pleasure and mitigates the most pain for all individuals involved. In his essay, Mill unhinges many previous criticisms of utilitarianism as fallacious and establishes a unique precedent of utilitarianism. One such defense he makes considers the argument that the postulate “happiness is pleasure” makes humans no better than swine. Mill …show more content…

However, Mill does not provide any basis for these facts he deems “unquestionable,” and there appears to be no surefire way to jump to this conclusion. Seemingly contradictory, the result of this assumption, were it to be removed due to its lack of proof, would result again in the same ambiguity of pleasures which pre-Mill utilitarians had trouble applying to everyday

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