When we first started learning about John Stuart Mills’ Theory, I thought it was going to be overly simple. The book Utilitarianism by Mill was a very short read, but it contained a lot of important information. After learning more about his theory, I found it to be quite interesting. It ended up being more relatable than what I originally thought it would be. When we know what we are looking for, we can apply his theory to many situations and aspects of our daily lives. A few years ago, I was faced with a moral dilemma at work. I was a cashier at a grocery store. There was an older man that appeared to be blind that came threw my check out line. His total bill for his groceries was just under twenty dollars. He gave me a one hundred dollar …show more content…
My understanding of this is that our goal is to promote the most happiness as we can in order to live the best life that we postally can. We also should not try to take away someone else’s happiness. Mill then said, “For that standard is not the agent’s own greatest happiness, but the greatest amount of happiness altogether” (Mill 11). This means that it does not matter who is getting the happiness it only matters about the total amount of happiness that is being created. In my moral dilemma, I feel like I was promoting the most happiness that I possibly could. When Mill talks about pleasure, quality and quantity are both being taken into consideration. There are lower and higher forms of pleasure. The higher forms of pleasure are more desirable. These include imaginative, intellectual, emotional, and moral pleasures which are only experienced by moral beings. Sensual pleasures are considered lower pleasures which is experienced by all moral and living …show more content…
When we are selfish and do not try to promote general happiness we would end up living an unsatisfied life. Mill said, “In a world in which there is so much to interest, so much to enjoy, and so much also to correct and improve, everyone who has this moderate amount of moral and intellectual requisites is capable of an existence which may be called enviable” (Mill 14). I believe he is pointing out that everyone is capable of living a satisfied life as long as there is not something major that is holding them back such as being born into an uncivilized county. Being born into an uncivilized country does not allow you to have everything that you need you live a good life. There would be less access to health care and housing which would lower the overall quality of life which result in lower happiness. Most of the big problems are removable. Health can always be improved as well as the poverty
It’s human nature to seek happiness, since it’s one of the “central motivations in life” (Kaufman). Psychologists have found out that people that live happy lives, “is associated with being a ‘taker’” (Smith). Because "Happy people get a lot of joy from receiving benefits from others” (Smith). Which means that these “happy people” are considered selfish people.
Mill mostly concentrates on utilitarianism and he said that people could not be selfish, they have to help each other. If they gain benefit from another person, they have to help and satisfy other person’s demands. On the other hand, Kant believes that people can help each other or satisfy each other’s demands, if these activities are derived from people’s good will. Also he strongly supported that people’s good will is not connected with the qualification. As a result, even if I support the Kant’s ideas, Mill has some true points.
The John Stuart Mill would probably want me to pull the lever and changes the train route to the right, so I can save five peoples life just by killing one person. Mill thinks happiness is link with morality and the result that can minimize the damage, it’s something that Mill would advise others to do because killing five men instead of one can be a tragic mistake according to him. As he says “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. Mill defines happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain. He argues that pleasure can differ in quality and quantity”.
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)
John Mill says, “those only are happy (I thought) who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness” which I don’t
The Pursuit of Happiness It is a fundamental aspect of society and of mankind that individuals seek their own happiness. Almost every aspect of life centres on the importance of self-fulfillment, and throughout history, the often selfish nature of man loans itself to the idea that life is about pursuing one’s own happiness. In a perfect world, the search for satisfaction in life would go unheeded, and every man would come to realize a perfect sense of self. Unfortunately, there are often many challenges and compromising aspects of society that inhibit individuals from achieving happiness.
John Stuart Mill’s explains that we do not have to look for happiness because we can find it without searching for it, we do not have to focus entirely on our own happiness, but make other people happy in order to find happiness of your own. He explains that we do not have to search for happiness because it will come all we need to focus on is on subjects other than thinking of being happy. I agree with some of the idea’s John S.M. has when he argues that we should not search for happiness. I agree with John Stuart Mill’s when he states that happiness will come to you when you are not looking for it.
This is said by Seneca in his Letters to Lucilius in which he states “If you live according to nature, you will never be poor; if you live according to opinion, you will never be rich” (129). While I do agree that pleasures can lead to other pleasures, I thought about psychology and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Humans have the tendency to constantly grow, and at some point they can reach self actualization, the peak of the hierarchy of needs, which could be the peak of pleasure, or a true ‘end’ to the cycle of pleasure. To further counter this argument, it is pretty obvious that a sage, or someone who has mastered either Stoicism or Epicureanism or any form of philosophy, is impossible to become. Thus the argument of not having a maximum pleasure would mean nothing because this state is impossible to become in the first place.
According to J.S Mill, one should choose an action that maximizes the happiness
(Mill, utilitarianism, p.697) To put this into simpler terms, Mill is essentially saying events or experiences are desirable only when it is a source for pleasure, so actions are good when they lead to higher levels of general happiness and they are deemed as bad when it lowers your general level of happiness. However, it is important to note utilitarianism doesn’t say it is morally right for everyone to purse what make them alone happy but instead morality is dictated by what increases the total amount of utility in the world. Pursuing your own happiness at the expense of the majority of social happiness would be viewed as wrong by utilitarian’s. Mill then proceeded to say that morality requires impartial consideration of the interest of everyone involved, its not just about your own happiness.
According to Aristotle, his definition of pleasure mean that the golden mean is our goal that we want to achieve in every action we make in life. However, we can also be easily get foolish by our action and achieve self-indulgent instead and goes to the excess category. Meanwhile, John Stuart Mill wrote in his Utilitarians’ that for someone to feel pleasure; mean there’s no pain involve also known as pleasure-acquisition, and we always aim for higher achievement to continuous feeling pleasure. Utilitarian belief that we not only seeking for pleasure in quantity but also quality, and only those who had experience both lower and higher pleasure can fully understand. Thus, I agree with Aristotle because I feels that pleasure is just an temporary
In my essay I will discuss what the utilitarian “principle of greatest happiness” is for Mill and what the “moral law” is for Kant. I will also present the four formulations of the categorical imperative and what makes them an ethical principle or practical in my point of view. In the conclusion of my essay I will give my view on the principles being and tell if they are possible to follow. The “principle of greatest happiness” is an action that is right as it maximizes general utility in which Mill pinpoints with happiness. Basically, each person’s happiness counts as much as the next persons.
The principle promotes that everyone’s happiness counts the same. An action is right as long as it is good for everyone and brings happiness and each person's happiness counts as much as anyone else’s.
Mill’s argument is happiness should not be seen as an individual’s pursuit, but it concerns everyone’s interest (Mill 17). So while a fool may be fulfilled pursuing his own interests and that makes him happy, someone of higher intellect sees he has to pursue happiness for the majority and the greater
He realizes that many believe that this theory is against pleasure, when it actually is completely the opposite. Another name for his theory is the greatest happiness principle and he defines happiness as, “...intended please, and the absence of pain; by happiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure.” This shows critics that his theory is not against pleasure in any way. Mill continues to discuss the idea of pleasure and explains the differences between higher and lower quality pleasers. Higher pleasures are a pleasure greater than any other one.