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Research Paper On John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism

446 Words2 Pages

Utilitarianism as explained by John Stuart Mill is a principle that is defined as “The greatest happiness for the greatest number of people for the greatest length of time.” Mill explains that we are happiness seeking individuals but at the same time, so is everyone else. So if I am in an ethical situation, I should always choose the path that has the greatest happiness for everyone, including myself. According to Mill, happiness for him is just pleasure and the absence of pain. In reality, I should think about my choices, think how many people will be “happy” with the least amount of pain as a whole. As we learned in the lesson, there are a lot of things that utilitarianism is not and that it could have some misinterpretations. Utilitarianism is not hedonistic. It can be misinterpreted because since it is about the greatest …show more content…

Mill’s harm principle explains “that all actions that directly harm no one except willing informed participants in the action should be legal,” In other words, you can do whatever you want as long as it does not affect anyone else. This however, will not protect you from self-harm. But who decides this what is right and wrong? Mill talks about qualified judges. Qualified judges are people who are capable of experiencing all pleasures under some consideration. To have good qualified judges you must have diversity, people living in different ways so we have multiple qualified judges for every situation. Mill later explains that “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others”. As we learned in this lesson, the main reasoning behind our laws according to Mill should be “I can swing my arm until it hits you”. It is a very simple thing to break down. Basically, if there is no victim for that action, that same action will not be considered a

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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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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’.

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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

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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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1679 Words | 7 Pages

Utilitarianism, in its true meaning, is an ethical theory that holds that the best action is the one that maximizes overall happiness or pleasure and minimizes overall pain or suffering. It’s based on the idea that morality should be based on the greatest good for the greatest number of people, and that this morality should be judged based on its consequences, not on the intentions of the person committing the acts. This theory has been influential in many aspects of society and is why I will be explaining the reasons as to why utilitarianism should be used as the base theory when it comes to the betterment of society. But first, in order to understand the importance of why utilitarianism can and should be used, you have to look into why thinking

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Chapter 7 is focused on the approach to teach the students in a way for them to be fully engaged. the students need more focus on them and giving the students time to practice and fully grasp the in for being taught. Els need more tangible things. In later chapters the lesson was focused more on lessons that focused on knowledge rather, compared to now; the chapter is focused on meaningful learning. You pick up a language faster when looking at a picture or interact with the vocabulary learned in class.

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931 Words | 4 Pages

John Stuart Mill wrote What Utilitarianism Is to shift the focus from the quantity of happiness to the quality of happiness by introducing the lower and higher pleasures. Mill refers to lower pleasures as physical and higher pleasures as mental. Those who fall under the lower category are the type of people whose standards are low meaning that they are most likely to be satisfied. On the other hand, those who fall under the higher category are more like to have high standards making it hard to be satisfied easily. A higher pleasure can be something that had to be done with effort and meaning, while a lower pleasure could be something you need.

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706 Words | 3 Pages

According to Mill, “acts should be classified as morally right or wrong only if the consequences are of such significance that a person would wish to see the agent compelled, not merely persuaded, and exhorted, to act in a preferred matter. A moralist can sum up the units of pleasure and the units of pain for everyone likely to be affected, immediately and in the future, and could take the balance as a measure of the overall good or evil tendency of an action” (West). The moral value of an action can be based on what is called hedonism. This says the only thing can be good is pleasure or happiness. Utilitarianism shows how moral questions can have objectively true answers.

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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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1134 Words | 5 Pages

In this paper, I will explain the key fundamentals of Utilitarianism and its criticisms as presented by Elliott Sober in his work, Core Questions in Philosophy. I will also present my own example that will object to the principles of Utilitarianism. My conclusion is that Utilitarianism can be proven wrong if we examine certain thought experiments, such as the Trolley Problem. John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism focuses on mainly on happiness. Mill believes that the only thing that is intrinsically valuable is happiness.

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746 Words | 3 Pages

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory based on the idea people should act in a way that produces the greatest optimal utility. In other words, people’s choices should achieve the greatest amount or benefits for the greatest amount of people and oneself. In this paper, I will argue the Hedonistic view point John Stuart Mill presents is a more refined branch of utilitarianism because of Mill’s concept of higher and lower pleasures . This paper is broken into two main sections. I will begin by outlining Mill’s Hedonistic Utilitarianism.

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1349 Words | 6 Pages

Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory based on the “greatest happiness for the greatest number” principle. In other words, a utilitarian would deem any action right if it brings more “pleasure” than “pain” to a greater number of people. It is a popular theory because of the welfarism at its core- the desire to bring happiness to all sentient beings. However, upon examining it in our judicial system it becomes apparent welfarism has less to do with the happiness of society and more to do with how financially well the country is.

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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

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1564 Words | 7 Pages

Utilitarian suggest that we make our moral decisions from the position of a benevolent, disinterested spectator. Rather than thinking about

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908 Words | 4 Pages

As per this theory the outcome of any action should minimize the pain and maximize the pleasure. The utilitarianism have two groups one is the Act utilitarian’s focun on the effects of individual actions (Such as Nathuram Godse’s assassination of Mahatma Gandhi) and another is rule utilitarian’s those focus on the effects of types of actions (such as killing or stealing) Utilitarians believe that the purpose of morality is to make life better by increasing the amount of good things (such as pleasure and happiness) in the world and decreasing the amount of bad things (such as pain and unhappiness). They reject moral codes or systems that consist of commands or taboos that are based on customs, traditions, or orders given by leaders

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