John Mill Utilitarianism Analysis
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory founded by Jeremy Bentham. It attempts to justify moral rules and principles and holds that the best moral action is one that maximizes utility. John Stuart Mill refined and wrote a book on this theory, in 1863. ‘What Utilitarianism is’ is the second chapter of the book, ‘Utilitarianism’. Below is the summary and critical evaluation of his writing. John Mill has aimed to answer different misconceptions and criticisms about utilitarianism in the major part of this text. He also introduced the Greatest Happiness Principle or the Principle of Utility, which is that right actions tend to promote happiness, i.e. intended pleasure and absence of pain. He has described the qualities of pleasure based on the intensity …show more content…
Mill makes a few decent focuses in his treatise on utilitarianism. However, he has totally overlooked what's important, by evacuating God as the preeminent wellspring of profound quality. His contentions are powerful and well developed for a common philosophy, but they still miss the mark. He has mostly focused on proving, with examples, that why utilitarianism is the most suitable answer to what a person ought to do. But he hasn’t discussed about why other theories can’t be accepted, which was very important. For instance, if a person is searching about why Islam is the best religion, he will also search about why other religions are not better than Islam. The Author has also used generalization quite often. The principle of utility is universal, according to him. The author has replied to the different criticisms by presenting different examples and each of them, in the end, concluding that utilitarianism is the best available ethical theory. By holding to only one intrinsic good i.e. happiness, and allowing every individual a voice, in how to achieve it, Mill has ingeniously tried to adapt this ethic globally. The text is also quite organized and well planned. For example, he hasn’t taken a stance, in the beginning, between whether morals are evident a priori or they are deduced from observations and experiences, knowing that it might create problems later. Therefore, John Stuart Mill has presented a convincing and relevant
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