John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism Essay

John Stuart Mill begins his argument for utilitarianism by convincing us that, without a measure for determining moral value, we cannot accurately hold ourselves responsible as our own moral agents. In response to this concern, he outlines a moral code based on the principle of utility. As a promoter of the highest presence of pleasure and lowest presence of pain, Mill continues on to argue that the ultimate end is happiness, with all other actions and intentions having value only so far as being a means to this end. Additionally, he provides a hierarchy of happiness, to assist us in determining the worth of different pleasures. The highest pleasures, Mill says, are the ones that require the most intellectual or emotional stimulation. These pleasures may be accompanied by pain or suffering, but are ultimately worth it, and would always be chosen over contentedness by those have insight to the presence of higher pleasures. In other words, the lower a sense of pleasures a being has, the easier they can be satisfied with lower pleasures. He gives an example featuring the contrast between a human and a pig, saying that the differences in our mental capacities directly lead to distinction in how we choose to experience pleasures. While a pig
He says of a person’s capacity for higher pleasures that “in the majority of young persons it speedily dies away if the occupations to which their position in life has devoted them, and the society into which it has thrown them, are not favorable to keeping that higher capacity.” (Mill, 10) While we are all inclined to prefer intelligence over contentedness, we must first be given both the opportunity to experience higher pleasures and the ability to continue doing so. Like a plant, children want to grow, but must be given a favorable environment to do so