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John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism

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In Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill defines his philosophy of utilitarianism as providing the greatest good or maximum pleasure, in the absence of pain, for the most people. The dilemma in this philosophy arises from the definition and pursuit of the greatest good. Hobbes said before in the Leviathan that there is no greatest good or Summum Bonum. In Plato’s Republic, Polemarchus’s definition of justice of doing good to friends and causing harm to enemies is rejected by Socrates because one cannot recognize good or evil, without having knowledge of the good. This is not true for Mill’s philosophy of utilitarianism. Mill sees that the good can be pursued if one has experienced the good and despite their knowledge of it. Although Socrates believes …show more content…

Actions are right if they tend to promote happiness and wrong if they tend to promote the opposite of happiness. There is no proof that declares this true, but through our continuous actions we see proof and can label actions by their ability to promote or demote happiness. The fact that the majority continue to pursue certain actions is proof that it is the good. Furthermore, pleasure and freedom from pain are the only desirable ends which is happiness and all that we desire is a means to promote pleasure and prevention of pain. What we desire as the good and pleasurable is labeled the good. If it is natural to desire the highest quality pleasures, then all people will desire in such a way, and in this, promote happiness for the most …show more content…

On page 10, Mill speaks that there are those that know the higher quality pleasures, yet choose the lower. Mill had said before that only ignorant people would choose the lower when knowing the higher pleasures. This is the exception and is very rare. A few people have addicted themselves to the inferior pleasures, not because they prefer them, but because they are the only ones to which they have access or the only ones they can enjoy any longer. People become like this when they want quick satisfaction and sustenance of pleasure. They turn to the pleasures that are easily achievable and secure, yet they do not yield that same happiness that higher pleasures would yield. As people keep from practicing nobler feelings, their ability to experience them fades. Utilitarianism is not meant for those who settle, but rather for those who find pleasure in the fight to obtain maximum pleasure for the most people. People who fail to pursue the higher quality pleasures do not strive for the good, but rather settle for the decent. They may have experience of the good but they have no interest in seeking it

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In Defense of Utilitarianism, J.S. Mill In the excerpt from John Stuart Mill’s book, Utilitarianism, Mill defends the utilitarian theory against three different objections. The first, and strongest opposition to utilitarianism was the accusation that the emphasis on the pursuit of pleasure makes utilitarianism “a doctrine worthy of swine.” This was my favorite argument because Mill defended it so well stating that there are varying degrees of pleasure. He refers to them as “high” and “low” pleasures, which I do agree with.

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In the reading, "Utilitarianism," the author argues that happiness is the main criteria for morality since people base their actions off of the overall happiness it could promote (pp. 195 and 198) and that while actions differ in the quantity and quality of pleasure, pleasurable actions that require intellect are of the higher pleasures (pp. 196-197).   One of the author’s main reasons to support his view is that morality is determined by what increases or decreases the overall amount of utility (pp. 197). Mill denounces the view of utilitarianism as a selfish, unsympathetic ideology by stating that it could only be best used if everyone could promote utility, and he uses the Greatest Happiness Principle, in which he explains that actions

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1618 Words | 7 Pages

This objection states that Mill is crude to consider humans as being so simple that they can only consider pleasure and pain, much line a pig only cares about slop and mud. Mill responds by making it clear that the pleasures her refer to, are not simply bodily pleasures. He explains that humans are capable of a higher level of pleasures than those of an animal. He felt that animals are only able to experience mere bodily sensation (lower pleasures) while humans pleasures can be intellectual, sentimental, imaginative, and emotional (higher pleasures).

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Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that focuses on outcomes and consequences. When one considers the theory of utilitarianism, it must be understood that the pleasure is a fundamental moral good and the aim is to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. So, when a human is going through the decision making process it is of the utmost importance to look forward at the consequences of the decision and determine if the decision will maximize pleasure and minimize pain. John Stuart Mill, a nineteenth century philosopher focused on the theory of utilitarianism or the Greatest Happiness Principle and claimed that the maximization of happiness for the greatest quantity of people is the ultimate goal. One issue that we face in modern day America that

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733 Words | 3 Pages

By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure,” as stated before. According to this actions are good when they lead to a higher level of happiness, and bad when they decrease that level of happiness. Mill claims that it is based and demeaning to reduce the meaning of life to pleasure. Once people are aware of their higher pleasures they will never choose to not fulfill those pleasures. Some pleasures are just simply more valuable than others.

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1550 Words | 7 Pages

Utilitarianism holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong in proportion that they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. Happiness is defined by pleasure and the absence of pain, and unhappiness is defined by pain and the lack of pleasure (Mill, 5). Pleasure and the lack of unhappiness are the only two aspects that are desirable as ends and inherently good. A significance in Mill’s definition of utilitarianism is what it is not. It is not psychologically measurable on a same scale but has different qualities and that those with more experience can determine what pleasures are higher than others.

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287 Words | 2 Pages

They would take the few higher pleasures knowing that fools who have a lot of lower pleasures are much more satisfied with what they have than themselves. In rare cases would a human choose to exchange their few higher pleasures with a lot of lower pleasures. When you are a person who gets enjoyment from lower pleasures it is more feasible to satisfied

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Even though Utilitarianism has many concepts, all of which have a common goal to create the most amount of happiness for the greatest number of people, there are specific concepts that highlight why Mill is considered the most moral theory. One of those concepts is his idea of having rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism for everyone to follow. Rule utilitarianism is what our society is today; we have laws emplaced for the common good of society, to keep stability and create the most amount of happiness within the community. General rules which keep happiness and calmness within the group. You may ask the question, though, what if a law is biased to a certain group of individuals?

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If the higher pleasure were still available, that would be chosen without a doubt. There is also only one way for utilitarianism to achieve its end. “Therefore, could only achieve its end by the general cultivation of nobleness of character, even if each individual were only benefited by the nobleness of others.” So, to achieve its end, utilitarianism must be as far away from pain as possible and and rich in enjoyments in both quality and quantity. Some even argue that Utilitarianism sets the standards too high for humanity because “it is exacting too much to require that people shall always act from the inducement of promoting the general interests of

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According to Vaughn (2017), “the principle of utility says that we should produce the most favorable balance of good over bad (or benefit over harm) for all concerned” (p.11). Utility is the underlying principle of utilitarianism, curated by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill in the 18th and 19th centuries. Bentham defines utility in terms of the quantity of pleasure versus pain produced, whereas Mill believes that pleasure is more qualitative, suggesting that it ranges on a scale of pleasure. Under Bentham’s definition, an ethical action is one that increases the overall happiness of the whole community.

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1218 Words | 5 Pages

The main principle of utilitarianism is happiness. People who follow this theory strive to fulfill the “ultimate good”. The “ultimate good” is defined as ultimate pleasure with out any pain. It is said that the pleasure can be of any quantity and any quality, but pleasures that are weighted more important are put at a higher level than others that are below it. This ethical theory also states that if society would fully embrace utilitarianism then people would naturally realize their moral standing in the

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1760 Words | 8 Pages

Goodness followed rightness, to Kant, and by his logic, what is right can only be considered right when it is done after being reasoned through. He felt that all people were obligated to consider the most reasonable approach in every situation; he called this the Categorical Imperative. The duty to use reason to determine an action’s rightness was called “moral law.” Ironically, it was Mill who was actually involved in the implementation of laws as a Member of

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A man by the name of John Stuart Mill seems to be able to give us some answers to these questions. Mill starts our inquiring journey with defining what utilitarianism stands for. In short he states that it is the construction of utility, which claims that the actions that stimulate happiness in is morally fit and vice versa to be unfit. Happiness is something that we want for

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1410 Words | 6 Pages

“The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge”, says the British philosopher and social critic Bertrand Russell. It is clear that such a mere definition of good life would not be enough if we wanted to thoroughly discuss on happiness, which at the end of the day constitutes the main notion attributed to having a good life. But what is happiness then? Is it simply a relative state of mind or something more related to a possible universal definition about it? There are seven billion people living out there, and that is a fact.

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1991 Words | 8 Pages

This is said by Seneca in his Letters to Lucilius in which he states “If you live according to nature, you will never be poor; if you live according to opinion, you will never be rich” (129). While I do agree that pleasures can lead to other pleasures, I thought about psychology and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Humans have the tendency to constantly grow, and at some point they can reach self actualization, the peak of the hierarchy of needs, which could be the peak of pleasure, or a true ‘end’ to the cycle of pleasure. To further counter this argument, it is pretty obvious that a sage, or someone who has mastered either Stoicism or Epicureanism or any form of philosophy, is impossible to become. Thus the argument of not having a maximum pleasure would mean nothing because this state is impossible to become in the first place.

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