Utilitarianism Essay
Utilitarianism
Valeria Ornelas
Grand Canyon University: PHI 305
10/30/14
John Stuart Mill’s Moral Theory
John Stuart Mill, a philosopher and political economist, is known today as one of the most influential sponsors for Utilitarianism. His moral theory tends to go along with a “Utilitarian rubric” (Fitzpatrick, 2006) and thus holds that the theory is based on how to define right and wrong in terms of happiness. For Mill, “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (J.S Mill, 1861, pg. 9). If happiness, for Mill at least, is pleasure, then it is also the absence of pain. Although this can be seen as a hedonistic approach, Mill supports the idea of different levels for pleasure. In his essay Utilitarianism, Mill draws a comparison for human and swine pleasure; he argues that if the pleasures were to be the same, then “the rule of life which is good enough for one would be good enough for the other.” Clearly man is more advanced than pigs and therefore, in Mill’s opinion, we must conduct ourselves in such a way that reflects how we rank happiness; as more advanced beings, Mill believes that we must place a higher importance on “mental over bodily pleasures” (J.S. Mill, 1861).
Utilitarianism Like any philosophical approach to ethics, Utilitarianism is simply attempting to explain where the boundaries of “good” and “evil” lie. The name utilitarianism is stemmed from the idea of utility and usefulness; in terms of utilitarianism, an act is good or morally right if it brings about a desired result, which deems it useful for the greater good (Wilkens 2011). If happiness is good, then the “desired result” should be happiness because, by definition, happiness is good in itself. This can easily be seen as a circular argument, but a Utilitarian, such as Mill, phrases this idea as “we ought to because we do.” Humans naturally want to attain or be in a state of happiness, which is
Valeria Ornelas
Grand Canyon University: PHI 305
10/30/14
John Stuart Mill’s Moral Theory
John Stuart Mill, a philosopher and political economist, is known today as one of the most influential sponsors for Utilitarianism. His moral theory tends to go along with a “Utilitarian rubric” (Fitzpatrick, 2006) and thus holds that the theory is based on how to define right and wrong in terms of happiness. For Mill, “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (J.S Mill, 1861, pg. 9). If happiness, for Mill at least, is pleasure, then it is also the absence of pain. Although this can be seen as a hedonistic approach, Mill supports the idea of different levels for pleasure. In his essay Utilitarianism, Mill draws a comparison for human and swine pleasure; he argues that if the pleasures were to be the same, then “the rule of life which is good enough for one would be good enough for the other.” Clearly man is more advanced than pigs and therefore, in Mill’s opinion, we must conduct ourselves in such a way that reflects how we rank happiness; as more advanced beings, Mill believes that we must place a higher importance on “mental over bodily pleasures” (J.S. Mill, 1861).
Utilitarianism Like any philosophical approach to ethics, Utilitarianism is simply attempting to explain where the boundaries of “good” and “evil” lie. The name utilitarianism is stemmed from the idea of utility and usefulness; in terms of utilitarianism, an act is good or morally right if it brings about a desired result, which deems it useful for the greater good (Wilkens 2011). If happiness is good, then the “desired result” should be happiness because, by definition, happiness is good in itself. This can easily be seen as a circular argument, but a Utilitarian, such as Mill, phrases this idea as “we ought to because we do.” Humans naturally want to attain or be in a state of happiness, which is
References: Mill, J. S. (1861). Utilitarianism. Raleigh, N.C.: Alex Catalogue. Fitzpatrick, J. R. (2006). John Stuart Mill 's Political Philosophy: Balancing Freedom and the Collective Good. London, GBR: Continuum International Publishing. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com from http://site.ebrary.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/lib/grandcanyon/reader.action?ppg=10&docID=10224803&tm=1414980113298 Wilkens, Steve. (2011). Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics: An Introduction to Theories of Right and Wrong. Downers Grove, IL. Shaw, W. H. (2008). Utilitarianism. In R. W. Kolb (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society (Vol. 5, pp. 2158-2162). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX2660400848&v=2.1&u=canyonuniv&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=83325aac55e64da1ad4e917fe0af0cbb