Main Strengths of Mill's Utilitarianism
A) Explain the main strengths of Mills Utilitarianism?
With rule utilitarianism you first have to agree to the general rule then after you apply it to specific cases.
Some people see Mill as a rule utilitarian, which means that you act in accordance with those rules which, if generally followed, would provide the greatest general balance of pleasure over pain. This rule is also in line with how society works in the way that most people would prefer to cause pleasure rather than pain.
Mill separates pleasure into higher and lower as that he thinks some pleasure like higher is more for the soul and are long term and will benefit you as a person and the lower pleasures which are more material and offer short term pleasure but not the sort that lasts. He use the saying ‘Better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfies; Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied‘ to show the differences between the two pleasures as that you can be a human dissatisfied which is better than being a pig who is satisfied as that you are may not be happy or content but you are doing good which is better than someone who is happy and content but doing bad.
There are two types of rule utilitarian. There is the strong rule utilitarian and there is the weak rule utilitarian and they can be identified by the strong utilitarian’s principles should never be broken and the weak rule utilitarian’s principles has a bit of give in the way you can apply it to a particular situation over the general rule.
The strong form of the theory maintains that rules established through the application of utilitarian principle should never be broken. This means that there is no give in the rules and if you break the rules than you are going against the rule utilitarian act.
The weak version allows for the possibility that those same utilitarian principles can take precedence in a particular situation over a general rule. However, the rule would still form part of the decision making process.
The
With rule utilitarianism you first have to agree to the general rule then after you apply it to specific cases.
Some people see Mill as a rule utilitarian, which means that you act in accordance with those rules which, if generally followed, would provide the greatest general balance of pleasure over pain. This rule is also in line with how society works in the way that most people would prefer to cause pleasure rather than pain.
Mill separates pleasure into higher and lower as that he thinks some pleasure like higher is more for the soul and are long term and will benefit you as a person and the lower pleasures which are more material and offer short term pleasure but not the sort that lasts. He use the saying ‘Better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfies; Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied‘ to show the differences between the two pleasures as that you can be a human dissatisfied which is better than being a pig who is satisfied as that you are may not be happy or content but you are doing good which is better than someone who is happy and content but doing bad.
There are two types of rule utilitarian. There is the strong rule utilitarian and there is the weak rule utilitarian and they can be identified by the strong utilitarian’s principles should never be broken and the weak rule utilitarian’s principles has a bit of give in the way you can apply it to a particular situation over the general rule.
The strong form of the theory maintains that rules established through the application of utilitarian principle should never be broken. This means that there is no give in the rules and if you break the rules than you are going against the rule utilitarian act.
The weak version allows for the possibility that those same utilitarian principles can take precedence in a particular situation over a general rule. However, the rule would still form part of the decision making process.
The