Preview

Mill's Utilitarianism

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
821 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mill's Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism, is the argument that a man should judge everything based on his ability to promote the greatest individual happiness. In other words, even if your actions are wrong, they are morally justified if it is for the greater good or, the greatest individual happiness. There are many different standpoints on what happiness really is, in John Stuart Mill’s essay on utilitarianism he argues that as long as your behavior creates bliss it is accounted for as happiness. Stuart supports his claims by explaining his own research and knowledge on the subject, “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” The author writes this article in order to try and change …show more content…
John’s beliefs are that “ The basic principle of utilitarianism involves a calculus of happiness, in which actions are deemed to be good if they tend to produce happiness in the form of pleasure...” I do not see how you can argue that one's actions are good as long as they aim towards creating happiness. Suicide bombers, for instance, is it ok when they kill hundreds of people including themselves because they believe they are doing the greater good for their religion and society? No, there is no excuse nor moral justification for these horrid actions. In a summary of Stuart’s autobiography, he argues that “...utilitarianism coincides with natural sentiments that originate from humans’ social nature.” This quote is saying that it is humanly natural for us to have no empathy for the few who feel pain if it means the rest of the population is happy. For Mill to state that this is in ¨human nature¨ would mean that we all have similar consciences. Such calculations like these would be illogical and inaccurate, we would then be able to experience the same identical amount of pain and pleasure therefore defeating the whole purpose of utilitarianism. I maintain that everyone has a separate conscience and in their perception they know wrong actions from right …show more content…
Utility is a fabricated version of happiness, Mill describes utility as “pleasure itself, and the absence of pain.” If pain were to be absent from the everyday we would not know what the meaning of happiness is. We have to have some degree of pain and evil in our lives that way we realize what makes us truly happy and we appreciate it when we have it. Listen to this scenario, a man takes his son to the hospital because he is sick and the doctors find out he is about to die. There is a cure, however the man doesn't have anything close to that much money, but he then sees the medicine he needs in one of the doctors drawers. Does he let his son die or does he steal the medicine? If he steals the medicine will it be morally justified and will the doctors let it go because he had the right intentions, no he committed a crime therefore he has to deal with the consequences. So in the end there is going to be some sort of pain, he let’s his son die, or he goes to jail and won’t even be able to see his

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    To summarize this Mill’s chapter two about what utilitarianism is, basically meaning that individuals would find some kind of pleasure that are more desirable and more valuable to themselves are inherently good. Utilitarianism is pleasurable when the actions are good; when the actions are bad the pleasure decreases. To Mill he compares human pleasures are as equal as animalistic pleasures. It depends on what kind of pleasure people are seeking. For this purpose, Mill mentioned that people would have to look within quality of the pleasure people are seeking as well as quantity.…

    • 387 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Utilitarianism or the greatest happiness principle, is mainly characterized by happiness and consequentialism. The measure of good and evil is balanced between individual 's happiness and the happiness of the community. (Sommers & Sommers, 2013) If you treat others how you wish to be treated, you are acting in the greater good for the most amounts of people, and in doing so, you are acting with morals. To act selfishly, you are acting morally wrong. This theory relies on producing the greatest amount of happiness. (Sommers & Sommers, 2013)…

    • 1183 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness” (11). That quote is from “Utilitarianism” written by John Stuart Mill. Mill is noted in history as a man who pushed for radical change of social and legal principles using Utilitarianism as his guide. That quote sums up his belief in that theory. In this essay I will be discussing Mill, the theory of Utilitarianism and how that theory relates to contemporary ethical issues.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “ The ‘greatest happiness principle’ holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (Mill p. 7). Actions only hold moral worth if the consequences are favorable on a grand scale. In utilitarianism actions are evaluated, not people which brings about the “agent neutral” concept. Mill stated ‘the utilitarian standard of what is right in conduct is not the agent’s own happiness but that of all concerned…as between his own happiness and that of others, utilitarianism requires him to be as strictly impartial as a disinterested benevolent spectator.’…

    • 1741 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In chapter number one titled “General Remarks” Mill starts off by talking about what is to be seen as morally right and morally wrong things, yet no one has a complete understanding for what is actually morally right and wrong. He then talks about “Moral Faculty” and two different views or opinions on the subject. Mill states in his text that “Our moral faculty, according to all those of its interpreters who are entitled to the name of thinkers, supplies us only with the general principles of moral judgments; it is a branch of our reason, not of our sensitive faculty; and must be looked to for the abstract doctrines of morality, not for perception of it in the concrete. The intuitive, no less than what may be termed the inductive, school of ethics, insists on the necessity of general laws.” The quote that Mill states is very outstanding for the reason of “applying the concept of law to ones certain case,” this is what Mill is trying to relate between the two different views. Mill also states that the differences between the two is where the “source from which they derive their authority” but yet they both agree on the concept of “moral law.” So as the chapter is coming to an end Mill comments on how “Utilitarianism has had a tremendous influence in shaping moral doctrines, even among the people who reject the principle.” Since our class had just been reading text from Kant his “idea of law” or “will” is still fresh in my mind and can easily be seen as a difference to what Mill is stating in the “Utilitarianism.” I can directly relate the two ideas because Kant’s “will” for a rational being may be thought of “the objective laws of reason and morality” or “subjective needs and interests,” which is what Mill is talking about in his two different views of “Moral Faculty.” Kant also states that “Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law” but Mill argues the point…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pleasures and pain contribute in determining the classification of one’s actions. In Mill’s Utilitarianism, he examines what determines an action to be considered right or wrong, his own version of the hedonistic utilitarianism argument. He claims that these qualities, including the quantity, are an important factor in determining, when included in the consequences, the criteria of an action. The consequences are significant in determining the results of one’s actions.…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Utilitarianism in ethics is the theory that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by its usefulness in bringing about the most happiness of all those affected by it. The word utilitarianism comes from the Greek word telos, which means “end”. Under this direction, acting ethically means making decisions and taking actions that benefit the people by maximizing “good” and minimizing “bad” (danielsfund.org). Englishmen Jerry Bentham and John Stuart Mill were too of the most influential developers of the utilitarian view point. Utilitarianism focuses on the pursuit of happiness.…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With this general happiness for everyone’s well-being, a persons priority or rights can’t take a lead or be more important over the general happiness of everybody (chapter II, p.17). This agrees with Aristotle’s, that the political functioning in a society through virtuous character are to benefit the community. Mill argues against Aristotle by claiming that because having security is the definitive right that is deserved by all people through law, certain actions, such as torture, are just in order to ensure that a person has security (Chapter 5, p.54). With this being said Utilitarianism follows a concept that is focused on the general happiness of everyone in the community, but also the happiness that comes to them through security. Mill states that there are certain qualities that show justice and injustice, and some of these qualities are that it is unjust for a person to be deprived of their legal and moral rights, but it is just that everybody should get what they deserve. According to this, torture of a person, can be justified because it will overall give people assurance of security and happiness. But, it is also unjust because it violates a person’s moral and legal rights. This is where the General Happiness Principle comes into play. The Greatest Happiness Principle holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness and wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness, which is pain (Chapter 2, p. 7). Happiness is the absence of pain or freedom of pain, which is the only thing that should be desirable as an end and people will always choose the end that is overall more desirable in pleasure (Chapter 2, p. 8). Mill clearly states, “…laws and social arrangements should place the happiness or the interest of…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    John Stuart Mill was considered a Utilitarian. The philosophy of Utilitarianism is that an action should be decided by what is best for society. Mill’s philosophy was in part developed by his upbringing as a child. His childhood was restricted and he was raised in an enviroment where is emotionally needs were not met. Also his father was a friend of Jeremy Bentham. Bentham was a philosopher credited with starting the beginings of the Utiltarianism philosophy. He focused on the relationships between the social classes and working towards social reform. His philosophy focused more on social conditions and human behavior than previous philosophies had. He looked at practical solutions for societies problems and less on the metaphysical aspects…

    • 1258 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    An excerpt from Exploring Ethics, best exemplifies the comparison from Mill and Kant. Kant's ethical system concentrates exclusively on the reason for an action and does not take into account its results, Mill's system focuses only on consequences. Mill's explained "that this is the singularity is the basis in which you use to judge morality, with those being morally right being those that will manufacture the most happiness because in the end all humans seek happiness above everything else." He also argued that fame, money, and virtue could not replace happiness but could be used to obtain it. Mill’s believed that happiness is the guiding arch that drives…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    John Stuart Mill

    • 1736 Words
    • 7 Pages

    1. John Stuart Mill – On Virtue and Happiness (1863)The utilitarian doctrine is, that happiness is desirable, and the only thing desirable, as an end; all other things being only desirable as means to that end. What ought to be required of this doctrine, what conditions is it requisite that the doctrine should fulfill, to make good its claim to be believed? 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; and so of the other sources of our experience. In like manner, I apprehend, the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable, is that people do actually desire it. If the end which the utilitarian doctrine proposes to itself were not, in theory and in practice, acknowledged to be an end, nothing could ever convince any person that it was so. 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. This, however, being a fact, 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 persons happiness is a good to that person, and the general happiness, therefore, a good to the aggregate of all persons. Happiness has made out its title as one of the ends of conduct, and consequently one of the criteria of morality. But it has not, by this alone, proved itself to be the sole criterion. To do that, it would seem, by the same rule, necessary to show; not only that people desire happiness, but those they never desire anything else. Now it is palpable that they do desire things which, in common language, are decidedly distinguished from happiness. They desire, for example, virtue, and the absence of vice, no less really than pleasure and the absence of pain. The desire of virtue is not as universal, but it is as authentic…

    • 1736 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Classical Utilitarianism is a moral philosophy, which was developed in 19th century England by Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill and Henry Sidgwick. The essential feature a utilitarian reside in, is the notion that an action is right if it produces the most amount of happiness well limiting suffering. Utilitarianism focuses solely on the consequences of the action, in an attempt to bring about the most happiness from each situation, well ensuring everybody’s happiness is equally considered.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marx and Mills

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages

    John Stuart Mill suggests that a person's ethical decision-making process should be based solely upon the amount of happiness that the person can receive. Although Mill fully justifies himself, his approach lacks certain criteria for which happiness can be considered. Happiness should be judged, not only by pleasure, but by pain as well. This paper will examine Mill's position on happiness, and the reasoning behind it. Showing where there are agreements and where there are disagreements will critique the theory of Utilitarianism. By showing the problems that the theory have will reveal what should make up ethical decision-making. John Stuart Mill supports and explains his reasoning in his book, Utilitarianism. Mill illustrates the guidelines of his theory. Mill defines utilitarianism as the quest for happiness. His main point is that one should guide his or her judgements by what will give pleasure. Mill believes that a person should always seek to gain pleasure and reject pain. Utilitarianism also states that the actions of a person should be based upon the "greatest happiness principle". This principle states that ethical actions command the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. Mill further explores the need for pleasure by noting "a being of higher faculties requires more to make him happy." . He acknowledges that some pleasures are more alluring than others are. He adds to this by making known that when placing value in things to calculate pleasure, not only quantity important but quality as well. Mill's criteria for happiness is easily understood, some statements that he gives are questionable. John Stuart Mill plainly laid out what he believes that the basis for ethical decision-making. First, the pursuit of pleasure is directly related to happiness. This idea can be easily accepted. It is natural for a person to focus his goals on things that will bring him pleasure. It would be absurd if someone's goal in life was to be poor and…

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Good and Evil in High Noon

    • 1373 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Utilitarianism is an ethical theory most often ascribed to the philosopher John Stuart Mill. The utilitarian theory suggests actions and/or intentions are not right or wrong; rather the morality of a choice or act is determined by the outcome or result. Utilitarian’s believe outcomes can be determined in advance of an action and the ethical choice is one which provides the best result or most happiness for the greatest number of individuals (e.g., pleasure, happiness, health, knowledge, satisfaction). The utility theory asserts morality is a means to some other end, it does not stand on its own as being intrinsically moral.…

    • 1373 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Utilitarian ethics is the theory that the starting point of ethics is the principal that everyone, humans and creatures alike, want to enjoy pleasures and avoid suffering. Starting from this principal ethics becomes a calculation of how to balance the greatest pleasure over suffering. (Waller, 2008, p. 50) According to utilitarian John Stuart Mill, “Actions are right as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce pain or the reverse of happiness.” (Defining Utilitarianism) Jeremy Bentham's Hedonic Calculus of utilitarian ethics states that we should always try to perform that act that leads to the greatest pleasure. “This raises the question as to how we are to quantify pleasure; if we cannot put a value on the quantity of pleasure that an act…

    • 2840 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays