Who Is John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism

The theory of utilitarianism is usually a prominent issue for discussion to many self-proclaimed wise philosophers. But is the theory itself wise? This question can be thoroughly assessed by examining the juxtaposition of wisdom and utilitarianism. By definition, utilitarianism is a consequentialist ethical doctrine holding that the happiness and successfulness of the greatest number of people in a population is considered the greatest good of the population regardless of the status of the fewer. Two of the most well-known proponents for utilitarianism are Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. They argue that utilitarianism is the wisest practice for a prosperous society. However, the principles of wisdom to not coincide with the doctrine

He argued that humans were governed by two sovereign masters- pleasure and pain. Humans seek pleasure and avoid pain. It follows that, actions are approved when they are such as to promote happiness, or pleasure, and disapproved of when they have a tendency to cause unhappiness, or pain. Bentham used this notion to argue that the consequences of an action, when good, justify the means. He then supposed that social policies are properly evaluated in light of their effect on the general well-being of the populations they involve. Bentham’s arguments provide a strong utilitarian foundation that a society may be governed…a society of artificial intelligence. In each of his arguments, Bentham denies human nature such that human emotion cannot be diminished to a dichotomy of pleasure and pain. This argument limits pleasure as one source of happiness for an entire human population. Bentham’s constrained view of happiness does not allow for human individuality. What makes one person happy may not appeal to another. The overall happiness of a population is therefore arbitrary or dictated by a governing

In his cleverly titled essay “Utilitarianism”, Mill defends the ethical doctrine of utilitarianism in which the happiness of the greatest number of people in the society is considered the greatest good. He argues that “The only proof capable of being given that an object is visible is that people actually see it. The only proof that a sound is audible is that people hear it... In like manner, I apprehend, the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable, is that people do actually desire it… No reason can be given why the general happiness is desirable, except that each person, so far as he believes it to be attainable, desires his own happiness… we have not only all the proof which the case admits of, but all which it is possible to require, that happiness is a good: that each person's happiness is a good to that person, and the general happiness, therefore, a good to the aggregate of all persons”. Mill is arguing for an objective happiness/good. He argues that if the community is happy, then the individuals must be happy because the community is simply an aggregation of