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Mill's Utilitarianism

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When we first started learning about John Stuart Mills’ Theory, I thought it was going to be overly simple. The book Utilitarianism by Mill was a very short read, but it contained a lot of important information. After learning more about his theory, I found it to be quite interesting. It ended up being more relatable than what I originally thought it would be. When we know what we are looking for, we can apply his theory to many situations and aspects of our daily lives. A few years ago, I was faced with a moral dilemma at work. I was a cashier at a grocery store. There was an older man that appeared to be blind that came threw my check out line. His total bill for his groceries was just under twenty dollars. He gave me a one hundred dollar …show more content…

My understanding of this is that our goal is to promote the most happiness as we can in order to live the best life that we postally can. We also should not try to take away someone else’s happiness. Mill then said, “For that standard is not the agent’s own greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness altogether” (Mill 11). This means that it does not matter who is getting the happiness it only matters about the total amount of happiness that is being created. In my moral dilemma, I feel like I was promoting the most happiness that I possibly could. When Mill talks about pleasure, quality and quantity are both being taken into consideration. There are lower and higher forms of pleasure. The higher forms of pleasure are more desirable. These include imaginative, intellectual, emotional, and moral pleasures which are only experienced by moral beings. Sensual pleasures are considered lower pleasures which is experienced by all moral and living …show more content…

When we are selfish and do not try to promote general happiness we would end up living an unsatisfied life. Mill said, “In a world in which there is so much to interest, so much to enjoy, and so much also to correct and improve, everyone who has this moderate amount of moral and intellectual requisites is capable of an existence which may be called enviable” (Mill 14). I believe he is pointing out that everyone is capable of living a satisfied life as long as there is not something major that is holding them back such as being born into an uncivilized county. Being born into an uncivilized country does not allow you to have everything that you need you live a good life. There would be less access to health care and housing which would lower the overall quality of life which result in lower happiness. Most of the big problems are removable. Health can always be improved as well as the poverty

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The John Stuart Mill would probably want me to pull the lever and changes the train route to the right, so I can save five peoples life just by killing one person. Mill thinks happiness is link with morality and the result that can minimize the damage, it’s something that Mill would advise others to do because killing five men instead of one can be a tragic mistake according to him. As he says “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. Mill defines happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain. He argues that pleasure can differ in quality and quantity”.

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The principle promotes that everyone’s happiness counts the same. An action is right as long as it is good for everyone and brings happiness and each person's happiness counts as much as anyone else’s.

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Mill’s argument is happiness should not be seen as an individual’s pursuit, but it concerns everyone’s interest (Mill 17). So while a fool may be fulfilled pursuing his own interests and that makes him happy, someone of higher intellect sees he has to pursue happiness for the majority and the greater

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(Mill, utilitarianism, p.697) To put this into simpler terms, Mill is essentially saying events or experiences are desirable only when it is a source for pleasure, so actions are good when they lead to higher levels of general happiness and they are deemed as bad when it lowers your general level of happiness. However, it is important to note utilitarianism doesn’t say it is morally right for everyone to purse what make them alone happy but instead morality is dictated by what increases the total amount of utility in the world. Pursuing your own happiness at the expense of the majority of social happiness would be viewed as wrong by utilitarian’s. Mill then proceeded to say that morality requires impartial consideration of the interest of everyone involved, its not just about your own happiness.

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According to J.S Mill, one should choose an action that maximizes the happiness

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