Mill's View Of Utilitarianism

According to Andrew J. Rotherham’s article “Actually, College Is Very Much Worth it. ”he states, “Meanwhile, in 2010, the unemployment rate was 9.2 percent for those with only some college and more than 10 percent for those with just a high school degree, but it was 5.4 percent for college graduates.” The data Rotherham provides shows that even with some college education, you have a higher chance of getting employed than those with just a high school degree. The one group that outweighs all the others is the college graduates proving that with a college degree unemployment is less likely to befriend people who do pursue college. Some people might say that there are loads of jobs that do not require a college degree, especially in this time and age.

Mill’s Utilitarianism. John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism have lots of agreements and applications in society. Jeremy Bentham (1789) was the great man who come out with utilitarianism. He claimed that pain and pressure are two sovereign masters to “point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. ”(Bentham, 1907, p.4)

= = = == This is something to be considered in the following, alongside the basic concept of happiness itself, as viewed by Mill and Ahmed.

According to Vaughn (2017), “the principle of utility says that we should produce the most favorable balance of good over bad (or benefit over harm) for all concerned” (p.11). Utility is the underlying principle of utilitarianism, curated by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill in the 18th and 19th centuries. Bentham defines utility in terms of the quantity of pleasure versus pain produced, whereas Mill believes that pleasure is more qualitative, suggesting that it ranges on a scale of pleasure. Under Bentham’s definition, an ethical action is one that increases the overall happiness of the whole community.

Save the Poor or Be Free to Make Your Own Choices Utility is defined as an action that benefits the majority of society. Utilitarian John Stuart Mill, is someone who I have observed to determine this decision. Liberty is different in that it incorporates individual’s rights by allowing for people to do as they please and creating minimal state interference. The issue needs to be fixed on whether the government should intervene with a utilitarian perspective and help the poor. This would cause the lumber company to lose their individual freedoms.

In Utilitarianism, Mill provides many defenses for criticisms of utilitarian ideals and expands on the theory with his own ideas. While discussing morals and actions that cause them, Mill glances past a discussion that I think is important. On page 756, Mill states that the motives behind actions are not important in determining what is morally right, only the action itself does. I believe that the motives are an important part in determining morality.

John Stuart Mill, at the very beginning of chapter 2 entitled “what is utilitarianism”. starts off by explaining to the readers what utility is, Utility is defined as pleasure itself, and the absence of pain. This leads us to another name for utility which is the greatest happiness principle. Mill claims that “actions are right in proportions 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 happiness, pain and the privation of pleasure”.

As a utilitarian, Mill relies heavily upon the overall happiness and wellbeing of the community, but there are other aspects of utilitarianism, such as liberty, which in a sense very closely goes hand in hand with happiness itself. To obtain happiness we must be free of restrictions which may limit our pursuit of the overall end goal. In Mill’s case, he stresses the importance of liberty, and uses freedom of speech as an example. Because we as individuals, and community members, require a sense of self to set ourselves apart from one another. He finds, that no matter the opinion, whether outlandish or reasonable, it has the possibility of becoming true, and without liberty we would not be able to come to this sort of conclusion because our rights would be restricted from us.

As the author mentioned, this dilemma puts Mill’s Utilitarianism against Kant’s Formalism. Utilitarianism is satisfied as the sacrifice of the life of one person to save the lives of five others produces the greatest good for the greatest amount of people, and would occur in both cases. On the other hand, Kant’s Duty-Based Ethics expresses that “each person’s conscience imposes an absolute categorical imperative on the person to follow those courses of action that would be acceptable as universal principles for everyone. Kant emphasized that it was the intention to do one’s duty that was significant, not the actual results or consequences. Thus, Kant’s theory rejects taking any life and would simply let the train continue on it’s meant course of action.

John Stuart Mill’s theory states that people will choose to follow the principals of utility because they seek the favor of friends and neighbor or they fear the specter of God. Utilitarianism also teaches that education should prepare all persons to attach their own happiness to the happiness of their whole community. In the scenario with me (district attorney) and my friend (nursing home administrator); we would solve this dilemma of utilitarianism by meeting the happiness of the 400 patients by allowing Dr. Jill Kevorkian to assist in the suicide of the patients. My friend (nursing administrator) used the ethics of consequence to approach the situation; also, my friend (nursing administrator) was trying to do more good by filling the needs

Utilitarian Summaries Mill’s theory of Utilitarianism is based off the Greatest Happiness Principle, which states that actions are considered moral when they promote good or the happiness of oneself or others and immoral when they promote the reverse affect. Mill continued to direct this statement towards the concept of pain and pleasure. People often base their personal happiness on the presence of pleasure and the absence of pain. Mills discusses pleasure and the root of pleasure to mankind. When discussing pleasure in humans, it is not always a matter of simply the presence of that pleasure but often the question remains quality vs. quantity.

In Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill writes his definitions of utilitarianism and how it should work in life. I will write three important passages that Mill argue in his work, then I will explain how they oppose consuming meat. Mill’s first statement is the Greatest Happiness Principle. He states that “happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain” (p2).

Emily Gaffney Dr. Parsons Philosophy 1000 17 September 2017 Mill’s Utilitarianism In this essay, I will be applying Mill’s modification of Utilitarianism to a scenario presented to me by my instructor: Imagining for a moment that I am a wealthy entrepreneur who wishes to donate $100,000 to flood relief, where will my money go?

Humans find themselves right at the top of the sociological tier, shadowed closely by what we as individuals call pets and whom have a sentimental value in our lives. Resource animals on the other hand have contributory value within our lives: they provide us with meat and other important resources. In order to determine the boundaries between how we treat animals as pets and others simply as resources, utilitarian’s see these “resource animals” as instruments. They contemplate the welfare significances of animals as well as the probable welfares for human-beings. The degree to which we influence any animal’s happiness is what really matters.

According to Jeremy Bentham’s utilitarianism theory, “actions are right when they increase happiness and diminished misery and wrong when they have the opposite effect” (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014, p.40). Therefore, in this specific situation, Mr. Delk suffer from pain and fractured his hip s/p fall, which is the opposite of happiness at the end result. John Stuart Mill stated that the judgement of utilitarianism will fit depending on their final result. Mills also stated that “only right actions are those that produce the greatest happiness” (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014, p. 41). Here, the primary nurse and the student nurse were failed to follow the utilitarian theory based on their action or end result.