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Analysis Of The Greatest Happiness Principle By John Stuart Mill

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In Utilitarianism Mill delineates his teleological principle of utility. This essay wishes to examine Mill’s moral theory of Utilitarianism through the Greatest Happiness Principle and his two arguments that pleasure should qualitative instead of quantitative and endowed towards mental instead of physical pleasure. Additionally the shortcoming of his theory will be noted: The erosion of human rights and our rational choice to choose suitable pleasure being undermined.
The Greatest Happiness Principle (utility) founds Mill’s moral theory as it divides right from wrong behaviour, detonating that correct behaviour promotes happiness and incorrect creates unhappiness (Mill, 1863, p. 10). Happiness means pleasure without the presence of pain and unhappiness is the promotion of pain and deprivation of pleasure. Thus morality is based upon us striving for pleasure and averting pain or induce satisfaction and halt discomfort to achieve …show more content…

According to Mill (1863, p. 14) utility also maintains that the most amount of happiness should be centred on society writ large instead of the individual. Since, individuals can only attain happiness by the majority’s happiness being fulfilled. For example some individuals opposed Brexit because of adverse economic impacts it could have on them, however during the referendum a larger majority of voters were pleased by it and voted it into law thus the majority was satisfied at the expense to the individuals.
As Utilitarianism centres our behaviour catalysing by pain or pleasure. Understanding why Mill argues that quality (the ranking certain raptures as more meritorious than others) of pleasure is more vital than quantity (the amount of a certain pleasure) of pleasure helps for the conceptualisation of his thesis. There are three manners that quality outweighs quantity: Preferences, our high faculty

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