ipl-logo

Utilitarianism In John Stuart Mill's On Liberty

962 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: On liberty john stuart mill

In On Liberty, Mill portrays the concept of liberty as valuable as a vehicle towards the end goal of maximizing utility. For Mill, such examples are consistent with utilitarianism since happiness is the only concept seen as an end in and of itself. In Chapter 3 ‘On Individuality’, Mill argues that individuality is of worth since it promotes happiness for the individual which in turn means there is happiness for society as a whole (BASPT p.640). Since Mill consistently views liberty as an extrinsic value, which shows liberty is not part of the essential nature of his theory, he stays consistent with the principle of utility that promotes happiness as the only intrinsic value to aim for. For Mill, as long as liberty is valued as a means to the …show more content…

Mill’s argument that “utilitarianism requires him to be strictly impartial as a disinterested and benevolent spectator” (BASPT p.661), becomes difficult to square it with his earlier proposal in On Liberty that full freedom should be given to human nature (BASPT p.628). This brings to light the issue of whether someone can be truly free if he is using utilitarianism to guide his every action. Of course, Mill’s response would be to say that by getting rid of rules and giving the individual freedom in the first instance, he will thereby naturally choose to act in the greater good. However, by allowing everyone to do this, there is a likelihood that there will be a conflict regarding which act maximizes utility and people will act selfishly to try justify their actions, claiming they were in the greater good. As a result, Mill’s advocating for individual freedom is not guaranteed to always result in the maximization of utility. Furthermore, take the case where if a child wasn’t locked up in prison for the rest of their life then ten people would die as a result. The utilitarian would say that the balance of happiness over harm would support locking the child up. However, there is a conflict here between individual freedom and abiding by the principle of utility. Following the principle of utility as Mill requires will result in a lack of freedom for that child in question who has been locked up. Not only does this show utilitarianism can lead to immoral, repugnant conclusions, but such outcomes contradict with Mill’s formation of individual freedom in On Liberty and reveals the inconsistency of Mill’s conceptions of liberty when squared with

Show More
Related
1128 Words | 5 Pages

For Liberty is so beautiful and “glowing” that she cannot be ignored. It, however, is against the commandments of Equality’s brotherhood to peruse her, as it would unbalance the mutual emotion between all men by creating preference. In a wretched battle of nature vs nurture, Equality finds that despite these regulations, he cannot stop himself from yearning for Liberty, whom serves as “blade of iron” cutting through to the undeniable truth that Equality is a selfish being, generally motivated by his own personal

Read More
1020 Words | 5 Pages

The price for attaining freedom and equality is often steep, and some individuals even give up their life in the cause of freedom. It is from some of these martyrs’ actions that John Locke’s renowned rights of life, liberty, and property are secured for everyone

Read More
1040 Words | 5 Pages

Mill argues that each individual can exert his freedom so long as it does not harm anyone else (Mill 1863). What a person does in his life is his business, and I can express disdain or aversion to his actions. If neither of us infringe on one another’s liberty, we cannot act in a way that would limit or remove each other’s liberty (Mill 1863). Contrarily, for self-defense, society and/or the victimized individual can impede on the perpetrator’s liberty if the perpetrator has impinged on someone else’s right to liberty (Mill 1863). Harm to someone’s liberty, whether done actively or inactively, therefore should be legally condemnable (Mill 1863).

Read More
1831 Words | 8 Pages

Philosopher Beliefs John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was a philosopher, economist, and civil servant. He was an advocate for individual freedom and

Read More
521 Words | 3 Pages

John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher well known as a proponent for utilitarianism and as a student of Jeremy Bentham, the founder of modern utilitarianism. Mill believed in personal liberty and that individual liberty was the best way to run society. He was a staunch believer in freedom of speech. Mill believed that it was important to hear everybody’s opinion, especially irreligious speech, no matter how much one might disagree with them, as it could turn out that someone else’s opinion may be correct. One of Mill’s premises is that everybody is that anybody is capable of being wrong.

Read More
2236 Words | 9 Pages

In Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant explains how humans should act if they want to live morally. Kant is worried about moral means to ends without the ends themselves. On Liberty by J.S. Mill is different in that Mill regards individuals, either minority or majority, in a society and the requirements for one person to limit the liberty of another. Mill is worried about social outcomes instead of just the intention behind actions. While these two philosophers differ in their approach on how we can live a good life, they would tend to agree on their understanding of the moral right choice and wrong.

Read More
714 Words | 3 Pages

Mill actually believes that people could not survive by only thinking themselves. In other words, people could not become more selfish as much as Kant stated because life force people to give importance to others. Since, they may be succeeding what they desire to do when they help each other on their necessities. Mill defends that people can accomplish individually of aims and closures ought to be considered some portion of their happiness.

Read More
944 Words | 4 Pages

John Winthrop, a wealthy English puritan lawyer and governor who was leading founder of the Massachusetts Bay colony, had a completely different perspective when it came to liberty. In “Little Speech on Liberty” He says that liberty is one of the great questions that trouble the country and says he sees a “great mistake” in the country concerning its meaning. Winthrop defines two completely different liberties that he believes are prevalent in society, natural liberty and civil or federal liberty. Natural liberty he describes as being a liberty we share with creatures and beasts. In this, man has the ability to do whatever he desires— in essence this liberty gives you the will to do either good or evil, it is your own decision.

Read More
1384 Words | 6 Pages

In the Harm Principle Mill suggests that the actions of individuals should be limited to prevent the harm of others . An individual may do whatever he or she wants, as long as these actions do not harm others. Mill believes in an individual’s autonomy; being self governed. We can live as we wish, and therefor also die as and when we wish. As Mill says: “the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.

Read More
1242 Words | 5 Pages

In fact, Mill might agree that if struggle is what makes someone feel self-actualized and free, that one should feel free to struggle. Just because Mill defines happy or good in his own way, does not preclude others, including Nietzsche, from defining what is satisfying or life-affirming in their own way. Furthermore, Mill emphasizes the value of not simply accepting custom without questioning it, and that making thoughtful choices and not being complacent is a critical aspect of making the most of one’s human capacities. He would argue that not understanding the basis for one’s thoughts and desires impedes the development of individual character.

Read More
1102 Words | 5 Pages

If punishment can be shown to promote effectively the interest of society, then it is justifiable, otherwise it is not. Seeing as the main characteristic of Utilitarianism is to maximize utility (i.e happiness/good), it consequently follows that punishment should be applied when it leads to improved overall circumstances in a given situation. One main argument for punishment in the Utilitarian view, is that of the deterrent effect it has, hence, threatening potential offenders in order to discourage them from breaking the law. This places the practice of punishment under strictly preventative and deterrent means. In light of this, Rawls points to the shortcomings and common criticisms of the Utilitarian model for justifying punishment.

Read More
1799 Words | 8 Pages

This course of action cannot simply be justified through consequentialist views such as the DDE, where the overall outcome is the only important decision factor. Non-consequentialist factors are of equal importance in the morality of an action. When viewing MacAskill’s cases and his response to the harm-based objection, it is important to consider the non-consequentialist, right-based theory of Libertarianism that maintains if an act violates a right, then it is morally wrong; individual rights are a fundamental element in deeming an action morally permissible. Libertarians do not focus on consequences when evaluating actions, instead believing that rights are so important that they must not be violated even to produce better consequences. This belief goes directly against the DDE, which evaluates an action solely based on the consequences produced.

Read More
1155 Words | 5 Pages

Individual liberty was very sacred to Mill, he said in one of his essays that unless the individual is left to live as they wish in the part of his conduct which merely concerns himself, civilization cannot advance; the truth will not for lack of a free market in ideas, come to light; there will be no spontaneity, originality, genius, for mental energy, for moral courage. He said society would be crushed by the weight of collective mediocrity. Whatever is rich and diversified will be crushed by the weight of custom, by men's constant tendency to conformity, which breeds only 'withered' capacities, 'pinched and hidebound', 'cramped and dwarfed' human beings. ' Pagan self-assertion' is as worthy as 'Christian self-denial'. ' All errors which a man is likely to commit against advice and warning, are far outweighed by the evil of allowing others to constrain him to what they deem his

Read More
1886 Words | 8 Pages

Mill’s conception of freedom in On Liberty: The only freedom which deserves

Read More
1716 Words | 7 Pages

The book On Liberty, is one of philosophical and most famous work written by John Stuart Mill in 1859. In the book, J.S. Mill applies his utilitarian concept to the history and the state. There he attempts to exhibit the idea that the society advances from lower to higher places this advance comes full circle in the development of an arrangement of delegate democracy. This writing consists total of five chapters which consists of introduction, the liberty of thought and discussion, individuality, as one of the elements of well-being, the limits to the authority of society over the individual and multiple applications of the theory.

Read More

More about Utilitarianism In John Stuart Mill's On Liberty

Related Topics

Open Document