John Stuart Mill 's Views On Morality

John Stuart Mill presents a utilitarian argument in his writings. Utilitarianism is the doctrine that actions are morally right if they maximize utility, which is pleasure and the absence of pain. Mill concerns himself in his writing with the problem of placing reasonable limits on the

When it comes to glue usage, kindergarten teachers the world over agree that a dab will do. Nevertheless, despite centuries of debate, there is no such consensus about the ideal amount of individualism a society should desire. In his 1863 work On Liberty, philosopher John Stuart Mill seeks to address this issue, and explain the generally salutary progress of human thought and behavior. He concludes that most reasonable minds are produced through discussion and debate with the varied viewpoints of others, advocating for intellectual diversity. Mill also argues that, on a societal level, civilized outcomes are accomplished best through a mix of conformity to customs and individual agency to alter social norms. Mill’s arguments establish that individuals, or even isolated groups, are less effective than well-connected, heterogeneous groups; the later works of Putnam and Kwon et al. bolster and extend this truth with specific, contemporary evidence.

Mill has an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” standpoint. If a person commits a terrible crime, they are nowhere near reaching a desirable end, nor do they have capacity to be virtuous, as Aristotle would say. If somebody is guilty of murder, then life in jail is too mild of a punishment for the crime he committed. It goes the other way around too. If somebody is guilty of theft, then life in jail may be too hard of a punishment for that particular crime. Mill believes the only efficient punishment is one that is exactly equal to the crime. He doesn’t think a murderer should be allowed to live on with the potential to murder again. Another thing Mill focuses on is general responses among a society. He believes the only way to find desirable pleasure is to ask people and get a general response. So if you asked the family of a murder victim what they would like to see happen to the murderer, a probable general response would be to have him sentenced to death as well, and that is exactly what should happen.

Utilitarian is defined as; the doctrine that an action is right as far as it promotes happiness, and that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principle of conduct. This is the defining principle of the philosophy that is Mill’s. His philosophy is based on the concept that the pleasures of most trumps the pleasures of few. In another one of Mill’s works “On Liberty” he speaks more on the way that society should work in a way that creates a system of success universally. Mill writes, “What was now wanted was, that the rulers should be identified with the people; that their interest and will should be the interest and will of the nation.” (Mill,2) Mill writes this for a ruler needs to release selfish tendencies when he is leading a nation or any group of people and look out for the wellbeing of all. Mill’s utilitarian society would be a society were all selfishness would be gone creating a world were bribes and other back door deals where problems are created would vanish and create a more balanced society. Mill says, “It may be further objected, that many who begin with youthful enthusiasm for everything noble, as they advance in years sink into indolence and selfishness. But I do not believe that those who undergo this very common change, voluntarily choose the lower

Mill continues by explaining that once this misunderstanding is corrected, those that comprehend utility, or ‘the greatest happiness principle’, appreciate that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (Mill, Chapter 2). By this account, pleasure and the absence of pain are the only things desirable as ends in themselves; the only inherently “good” things. Consequently, all other experiences and situations are merely desirable to the extent that they provide a basis or springboard for such pleasures. However, it is still important to understand that utilitarianism doesn’t simply require people to follow what makes them happy in a personal sense. Instead, in Mill’s theory morality is determined by the greatest happiness principle: a moral act is that

Mill is noted for his theory on utilitarianism. According to Mill, utility is equated with happiness, and utilitarianism can be referred to as the Greatest Happiness Principle. This principle states that “the ultimate end, with reference to and for the sake of which all other things are desirable (whether we are considering our own good or that of other people), is an existence exempt as far as possible from pain, and as such as possible in enjoyments” (Mill, p. 961). And, I agree this is true. Happiness can be attained by any living creature, but on a multitude of different levels. Mill posits in his text that happiness is greater in potential for humans than it is for lower animals, as humans are able to attain a superior mental form of happiness over bodily forms of happiness. Due to this limitation, Mill believes few humans would

This paper will discuss John Stuart Mill’s argument about the freedom of expression of opinion, and how Mill justified that freedom. I will also discuss how strong his argument was and whether or not I agree with it. John Stuart Mill was a political economist, civil servant, and most importantly an English philosopher from the nineteenth century. Throughout his writing, John Stuart Mill touched on the issues of liberty, freedom and other human rights. In his philosophical work, On Liberty, he discussed the relationship between authority and liberty, as well as the importance of individuality in society. In chapter two of On Liberty, Mill examined the freedom of expression in more detail, examining arguments for and against his own.

In the Utilitarian doctrine the consideration of pleasure and pain is constrained to ends. By this doctrine pleasure is the only thing desirable as an end and pain is the only thing undesirable as an end. Everything else is good or evil as it tends to promote pleasure or pain*. I will argue that pain should be considered as a means as well as an end and show that this is consistent with John Stuart Mill’s version of Utilitarianism. Conjoining the consideration of pain as a means and the notion of association of ideas, I will give what I hope is a unique explanation as to why higher pleasures are so often considered superior to lower pleasures. Finally I will end with a short exposition that may help to explain Mill’s mental crisis of 1826 by using the ideas advanced in this paper.

Explain in your own words the logic of Mill’s argument, and critically discuss whether happiness should be the criterion of morality.

According to society, it is displayed that when people are with their family and friends, they are exceeding 31% more in school. This reveals that happiness helps kids to improve in school. In the article, an autobiography, by John Stuart Mill(1909), claims that happiness is focused on too much, and that people are displaying the wrong activities to find it. John Stuart Mill supports the thesis by using his opinion, that the reader could relate to. The author wants to catch the reader’s attention, in order to push them focus on how they are finding happiness. Nevertheless, John Stuart Mill wants the reader to relate to his opinion. For example, when people are kind or help out a friend and always “ask yourself [if] your happy, and if you cease

One of the first misconceptions of Utilitarianism that Mill addresses is that it is often interpreted as the opposition of pleasure. Mill corrects this falsehood by stating the following: “Those who know anything about the matter are aware that every writer, from Epicurus to Bentham, be contradistinguished from pleasure, but pleasure itself, together with exemption from pain; and instead of opposing the useful to the agreeable or the ornamental, have always declared that the useful means these, among other things” (Mill, 2007, p. 5). Utilitarianism is, in

In regards to morality, Mill anchors its definition on the premises of the greatest happiness principle stated above. Unlike Aristotle who puts emphasis on the agent (the person themselves) in regards to acting morally, Mill is very indifferent and states that the character of the person and their motives do not matter only the consequence of those actions matter. For Mill, the morality of the action only depends on whether that action will produce pleasure for greatest number of people. As state before, he explains that pleasure leads to happiness, and happiness is the ultimate goal of each individual. However, morality is “the rules and precepts for human conduct,” and not simply the causes of human behavior. Desire may drive human actions, but that doesn’t mean that desire should propel human actions. Morality is the ideal, not the reality.

Mill claims that morals find their root in Utility, otherwise called the Greatest Happiness Principle.(513) The essence of this is that actions are right in proportion to how much happiness results from them and wrong in proportion to how much they cause the reverse of it.(513) In defending this, he claims that

In chapter one of James Rachels’s What is Morality, he argues that at the very minimum, morality is using reason to guide one 's decisions, while keeping in mind the interests of those who will be affected by one’s choice, without giving more weight to one individual over another. He supports this thesis by describing a couple of morally ambiguous situations regarding humanity and life.

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,