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Letter To Mill's Explanation Of Virtue Ethics

1618 Words7 Pages

Eve Leverette Phil 2201 Topic Number 5 Edward Matusek Dear Miriam, I am so sorry that you are having such a hard time understanding making a decision about your current situation. The theories of ethics can seem quite confusing, but I believe that I may be able to clear some things up for you. There are three basic theories to review when determining what is right or wrong. In this letter I will explain Mill's Utilitarianism, Kant's Duty theory, and Aristotle's explanation of virtue ethics. According to Mill's Utilitarianism theory, all actions( means) are done for the sake of some consequence (end). Mill believed that the most important thing in human life is happiness, and all actions should be based on maximizing pleasure and decreasing pain. His theory focused more on the …show more content…

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). One of his well know quotes states, "Human beings have more than animal desires, and once we know that, we do not regard anything else as true happiness that include satisfaction of those desires". According to Mill, higher pleasures have more value than lower pleasures. Mill responds to such criticism when he stated," It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied. Better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied". Thus, it is better to have a smaller amount of higher pleasure, than to have a larger amount of lower

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