Research Paper On John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill whom made his mark in philosophy was influenced by his father James Mill and Jeremy Bentham whom was an English philosopher who founded the idea of modern utilitarianism known as the “greatest-happiness principle”. Mill argued that instead of all forms of happiness being equal like Bentham had believed that intellectual and moral pleasures are superior to physical pleasures. There are two main features of Utilitarianism one being the consequentialist principle and the other being the utility of the hedonist principle. The consequentialist principle being the right or wrong of an act is determined by the result of the act whether it be good or bad. And the utility of the hedonist principle states that the only thing good in

The act-utilitarianism states that an act is right if and only if it results in as much good as any available alternative. And the rule-utilitarianism states that an act is right if it is required by a rule that is itself a member of a set of rules whose acceptance would lead to greater utility for society than and available alternative. John Stuart Mill also wanted to distinguish happiness from mere pleasure which became known as the Eudaimonistic Utilitarianism. Mill defined happiness as a higher order of pleasures and satisfactions as well as believed that higher or more refined pleasure are superior to lower pleasures. John Stuart Mill believed that happiness was intended pleasure and absences of pain and unhappiness was pain and the absence of pleasure. In Mills theory of utilitarianism he believed that given the choice, humans will always seek the higher pleasures. “It is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.” Mills biggest contribution to philosophy was that intellectual and moral pleasures were superior to physical forms of