ipl-logo

Research Paper On John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism

660 Words3 Pages

According to John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism is a standard for morality based on the greatest happiness principle. The greatest happiness principle involves making moral decisions based on what will produce the most happiness for the greatest number of people. For this purpose, happiness is not only defined by what we understand happiness to be as a feeling of joy, but also as the absence of pain. For that reason, happiness of the aggregate is the standard of morality in utilitarianism. Any actions or decisions promoting unhappiness or inducing of pain or harm to the aggregate would be regarded as wrong by utilitarianism. One objection to Mill’s Theory would be the swine objection. In this objection, utilitarianism is criticized on the basis that happiness cannot possibly be the only rational purpose or highest purpose of life because it is not always attainable and there are other worthy purposes to be achieved. Mill responds by saying that though he acknowledges this point of view, if more pleasure is produced and more pain is prevented, the outcome would benefit the aggregate …show more content…

Not everyone is a competent judge and able to accurately make the decision to satisfy GHP. Mill responds that the motive for the behavior and the actual behavior are being confused. He claims that we do not always have the intention to benefit the greater interest of society but that our actions still do and that it is all that matters. For example, if a man was drowning in a lake and someone rescued him in hopes of getting a reward, this person nonetheless still rescued a drowning man regardless of his motives for doing it and so acted in accordance with utilitarianism. As long as our chosen action meets GHP versus any other choice of action we could have taken, we have acted in compliance to

Show More
Related

What Does Proctor Believe Without Evidence In The Crucible

441 Words | 2 Pages

"The Crucible" by Arthur Miller is about a village where people believe a lot in witchcraft, but things start to go crazy when they start accusing each other with no evidence or evidence that doesn't make sense, only because they don't like each other or because they want their lands, when people go to the jail they have two options, they can lie and confess witchcraft to don't die, or they can say the truth, don't confess and die. Because of that, Proctor, the main character, and his wife went to jail, the court saw that the people from the village were not believing too much in witchcraft, so they gave an option to Proctor, he could be free if he lied and confessed witchcraft for the village, but Proctor didn't lie, so they killed him. " The

Read More

Who Is John Stuart Mill In Defense Of Utilitarianism

240 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More

Utilitarianism And The Prime Directive: Star Trek

306 Words | 2 Pages

Mills explains Utilitarianism as achieving life’s goals, it is what everyone wants or seek for. He further explains that utilitarianism promotes the quality of life. Furthermore, utilitarianism is connected to happiness, because we all seek to achieve different goals in life, and those goals are what makes up happy. We all want certain things in life, or want to achieve certain things. Utilitarianism promotes happiness, happiness exclude pain, suffering, struggles, stress, and anything that makes one ‘unhappy’ or ‘sad’.

Read More

Atomic Bomb Pros And Cons

1079 Words | 5 Pages

The first principle of Utilitarianism is Utility. In John Stuart Mill’s text discussing his theory on Utilitarianism, he defines Utility as pleasure itself. “Every writer, from Epicurus to Bentham, who maintained the theory of utility, meant by it, not something to be contradistinguished from pleasure, but pleasure itself, together with the exemption from pain” (John Stuart Mill, 997). Another name for the theory of Utility is the Greatest Happiness Principle, which

Read More

Theory Of Utilitarianism And Drinking Age

1533 Words | 7 Pages

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

Read More

Comparing Mill And Kant's Theories

714 Words | 3 Pages

Mill describes utilitarianism like a hypothesis depend on the basis that if people tend to behave like promoting happiness, it would be a true

Read More

Research Paper On John Mill Act Utilitarianism

1296 Words | 6 Pages

Mill says that an action is morally right if the action leads to promote the general happiness of the person or community. Mill believes that Unitarianism is not solely based on pleasures alone but rather also the refrain from pain. There are two types of Utilitarianism, Act and Rule Utilitarianism. The first of the two, Act Utilitarianism, is the belief that actions are morally right when the whole community is pleased and the greatest amount of good is produce. Rule Utilitarianism is the belief that moral correctness of the action reflexes on the correctness of the rules that are placed to achieve the greatest

Read More

Compare And Contrast Mill And Utilitarianism

993 Words | 4 Pages

While it may seem difficult or tedious to donate one’s time or money to a charity, shelter, or soup kitchen, Mill agrees that the discomfort of a few noble individuals is still to the benefit of society as a whole because what truly matters is adding to the total amount of happiness. On this , Mill writes, “Utilitarianism, therefore, could attain its end by the general cultivation of nobleness of character, even if each individual were only benefited by the nobleness of others, and his own, so far as happiness is concerned, were a sheer deduction from the benefit,” (page 11).  Mill believes that those that renounce their own happiness for the increase in happiness of society as a whole are honorable, this is shown in this quote, “That the happiness which forms the Utilitarian standard of what is right in conduct is not the agent’s own happiness but that of all concerned” (page 17). The key ideal in Utilitarian morality is similar to the humanity principle in which one should treat others the way they would want to be treated. Other Utilitarian philosophers hold a

Read More

Social Security And Utilitarianism

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.

Read More

Just War Theory

985 Words | 4 Pages

Utilitarianism focuses on that the end goal of human action is to be happy which is called the greatest happiness principle which is when an action is considered right if it promotes the most happiness and the least pain. According to John Stuart Mill, “By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure”(96). It’s the view that happiness is in pleasures. Humans contain higher pleasures which are feelings, intellect, and success but also contains lower pleasures like eating, sex, etc. “The higher pleasures are superior to the lower ones.

Read More

Theories Of Utilitarianism, Kantianism, And Aristotelianism

1163 Words | 5 Pages

Rule utilitarianism is a belief in which, an action is morally right, as long as it justified in accordance to a particular law. Utilitarianism is less complicated to understand (compared to other moral theories) because it consists of “doing whatever produces the best consequences” (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Virtue Ethics). Mill viewed the greatest happiness principle as the cornerstone of morals, he

Read More

Morality And How They Are Aligned To Our Cultural Identity

601 Words | 3 Pages

This theory was championed by John Stuart Mill who said that all actions lead to an end and there is a highest good end. Furthermore there is a first Principle of Morals that is called The Greatest Happiness Principle’ (GHP) that strives to working towards the greatest happiness. GHP implies that people should act so as to maximize human welfare by choosing actions that minimize suffering and maximize pleasure. According to Arthur (2003), Utilitarian believe no actions that can be stated with certainty as wrong or right, no persons’ preferences are more important than other persons’ interests.

Read More

John Stuart Mill On Happiness Essay

852 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More

Critical Analysis Of John Stuart Mill's 'Utilitarianism'

1564 Words | 7 Pages

John Stuart Mill, at the very beginning of chapter 2 entitled “what is utilitarianism”. starts off by explaining to the readers what utility is, Utility is defined as pleasure itself, and the absence of pain. This leads us to another name for utility which is the greatest happiness principle. Mill claims that “actions are right in proportions as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” “By Happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain, by happiness, pain and the privation of pleasure”.

Read More

Utilitarianism In Business Ethics

1685 Words | 7 Pages

The hedonic calculus has seven different criteria that must be considered to evaluate the balance between good and evil. This appears practical and easy to use in any situation; however, it has its issues. For example, Bentham suggested that all pleasure and pain should be measured equally. This causes a major problem when put into the context of business ethics, as it suggests that the pain experienced by a child forced to work in a factory is equal to a shareholder in a business gaining a little more profit – surely, this is unethical. J.S. Mill noticed this issue, introducing rule utilitarianism, in which he recognised the differences in different types of pleasures.

Read More

More about Research Paper On John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism

Related Topics

Open Document