Introduction
The Principle of Utility According to the principle of utility, all actions or behaviors are right as long as these actions or behaviors promote happiness or pleasure. If the actions promote sadness, pain or undesirable results, then the action is not in accordance with the principle of utility. John Stuart Mill states in his book Utilitarianism that 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”. (Feinberg pg. 597) What mill is inferring is that actions that are done with the intentions of causing pleasure and with no pain. If the action causes pain or it results in no pleasure, the action would result
An action is morally required in utilitarianism if it maximizes happiness for the greatest amount of people. Morality is based on the presence of pleasure, and the absence of pain. However, Mill categorizes pleasures into lower animal pleasures and higher human pleasures. Only humans can experience higher human pleasures uniquely but they can also experience lower animal pleasures as well. Mill argues that higher human pleasures significantly contribute
The Massachusetts colony has a very cold climate. In the summers the highs are around low 80’s degrees because of the cool ocean water coming to the shores. The Massachusetts area is considered to be of Continental climate due to the colder temperatures. The hottest month is usually in July while the coldest is usually January. Massachusetts has an average of 3.65 inches of precipitation per year with the highest amount being in March with 4.32 inches of precipitation per
The Lowell Mill had started in the early 1900’s and mostly females worked there, it was very hard work and they didn’t get paid much. Mill girls generally worked in hot and difficult working spaces and got paid minimum wage. Also many of the younger kids that worked here went to school then typically go to work after, and this happened almost every day and they got very little rest. I’ll be talking mostly about how the mill girls were treated and their opportunities to go to college for the older people there.
Mill says that ethical decisions should be based on pleasure. Therefore when he states that pleasure is the sole requirement for happiness, it is questionable because pain indirectly affects happiness. Pain is an indirect factor because it is not the object of one’s happiness but it is an obstacle, which you have to overcome. If you were to avoid all pain, then how would you truly ever know what pleasure feels like? Real pleasure comes only after experiencing pain. If a person always wins the tic tac toe game then the pleasure they feel turns into an expectation. Thus it is not true pleasure. If the loser of the tic tac toe game after 20 years finally wins he can feel the desired pleasure that he was seeking.
Many great economic thinkers throughout history has offered various differing yet interrelated views and ideas that may prove useful to the analysis of current issues in modern economics. A persistent issue in the modern economy is income inequality whereby the distribution of income among the population is unequal. This means that the gap between the rich and the poor increases over time if the issue is not appropriately addressed. In exploring the issue of income inequality in Australia, this essay aims to analyse the issue from the perspective of a selected economic thinker – namely John Stuart Mill – by: (1) providing a summary of Mill’s key ideas and theories, including the different forces that may have shaped his thinking; (2) applying Mill’s conceptual framework to the income inequality problem; and (3) offer solutions he might have suggested to address this problem, including policies that may be adopted and institutions that may be constructed in the Australian context.
"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, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness" (Mill 55). This is how Mill first presents the idea of Utilitarianism. If it promotes happiness it is right, if it promotes the reverse of happiness, then it is wrong. If one were to simply take this statement, without further
Mill writes of utilitarianism in the eponymous work Utilitarianism. According to his work utilitarianism is a means of deciding the moral value of actions. Mill’s theory takes a consequentialist view of actions, saying that the moral worth of an action is decided by the outcome, or consequence. This decision of moral worth is determined by whether the outcome maximizes happiness and minimizes the reverse of happiness. Mill writes that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” Happiness is defined as pleasure and the absence of pain according to Mill, and the action must be considered for the outcome it brings to the most people. This happiness, or pleasure and lack of pain,
Inhibition of one's liberty, such as their liberty of conscience (i.e. freedom of speech), is unjust by Millian principles, unless the person's use of deliberation is to voice hate speech. So what is hate speech? Hate speech is directed towards a member of a group, or the group as a whole, that vilifies on the basis of the subject's beliefs. In comparison to discriminatory speech, hate speech does not invoke mere offense, but in most cases is traumatic, and severely impair one’s deliberative capacities, or their mental faculties (judgment, moral preference, intuition, etc…). Liberties have been established to protect our deliberative abilities, as these are conducive to achieving happiness, which to Mill is the individual's primary goal. So why should we regulate hate speech? Although it is important to allow people's freedom of expression, as this is conducive to promoting one's individuality, hate speech can stigmatize one's character, and for this reason hate speech is not always morally, or legally permissible. To better understand hate speech's importance, I will describe Mill's argument in favor of prohibiting hate speech, following this I will object to Mill's rejection of hate speech, finally, I will show why hate speech should be regulated, and why allowing it is dangerous to humans, and society as a whole. Freedom of expression is imperative for improving one’s character, but not all forms of opinions', such as hate speech, should have full freedom to be
For utilitarian philosophers, happiness is the supreme value of life. John Stuart Mill defines Utilitarianism as a theory based on the principle that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain and privation of pleasure” (Mill, Utilitarianism). This meaning that utilitarianism is determined by the calculation of happiness, in which actions are deemed to be good if they tend to produce pleasure, a form of happiness. On the contrary, they are evil if they tend to promote pain. Not only does Mill regard to the end product of happiness in actions, but also considers the motives of such actions. In his argument, Mill defends the idea that happiness as the underlying basis of morality, and that people desire nothing but happiness.
Mill's principle of utility seeks for the logical rationality of ethics through the consequences of actions as the consideration determining their morality, therefore the possession of happiness as opposed to the avoidance of pain. Utilitarianism might be an instance of a more general theory of right consequentialism, which supports that right and wrong can only, be reviewed by the kindness of consequences. This common kind of theory can be easily understood by considering the form of consequentialism. Consequentialism states that an act is right if, of those accessible to the agent at the time, it would produce the most overall value in the end. Utilitarian
Socialization is very important in society and in the development of a child’s personality. Socialization is very vital to the success that a person hopes to accomplish in life. One must learn how to work with others and effectively communicate with others. This characteristics are very essential in life. Through sports many find that these concepts can be learn. It is preferred that these skills are acquired at a young age. If these skills can be learned through sport it makes sense that a parent would put a child in these at such a young age. Sports also give the very important benefit of better health. I will closely examine both the pros and cons of socialization of children through sport at a young age from a functionalist and
demographic transition theory is a widespread explanation of the changing mold of humanity, fertility and increase rates as civilizations move from one demographic system to another. “The term was first coined by the American demographer Frank W. Notestein in the mid-twentieth century, but it has since been elaborated and expanded upon by many others” (The Demographic Transition, 2012). There are four stages of demographic transition.
Utilitarians believe that whether an act is right or wrong depends only on the consequences it produces. An act that results in at least as much pleasure or well being as other alternative acts is right, and vice versa. In other words, any act that does not maximize pleasure is morally wrong. Even though utilitarian ethics often clashes with conventional norms, the conflict has no direct moral relevance to the action.
In this paper I will present and critically assess the concept of the principle of utility as given by John Stuart Mill. In the essay “What Utilitarianism Is” #, Mill presents the theory of Utilitarianism, which he summarizes in his “utility” or “greatest happiness principle” # (Mill 89). Mill’s focus is based on an action’s resulting “happiness,” # pleasure and absences of pain, or “unhappiness,” # discomfort and the nonexistence of contentment, rather than the intentions involved (Mill 89). After evaluating Mill’s principle, I will then end this essay by discussing my personal opinion about the doctrine and how I believe it can be altered to better suit real-life situations.
The death penalty possesses a highly complicated legal process. This process has a high cost in the pre-trial and trial phase which makes the death penalty economically unstable method of punishment. Therefore, the death penalty should only be reserved for the rarest of the rare cases.