Phi 335 Mill

Front 1

What does it mean to say that Mill’s ethics is a consequentialist (or teleological) theory?

Back 1

The moral worth of an action depends on the consequence that it brings about it.

Front 2

What makes Mill’s consequentialist theory a utilitarian theory (i.e., what else defines utilitarianism besides its consequentialist approach to morality)?

Back 2

It emphasizes the value of human well-being such as pleasure vs. pain, happiness, objective benefit, satisfaction of preferences, etc.

Front 3

What is the greatest happiness principle that defines utilitarianism?

Back 3

An action A is the right action to do in situation S if and only if A produces as much or more happiness for all affected by the action as any other action available in S.

Front 4

What is the psychological theory and the value theory of utilitarianism?

Back 4

psychological claim: people always desire their own happiness. Anything else people desire, they desire because it is a means to or a part of happiness.

theory of value: happiness is the only thing valuable as an end in itself; all other valuable things are valuable either for the happiness they contain or as means to promoting happiness.

Front 5

Explain Bentham’s hedonistic calculus and his procedure for determining which is action is the right action to perform in a situation.

Back 5

The hedonistic calculus is a system for calculating precisely the pleasures and pains that count for or against an action. For each person affected by a possible course of action, assess each pain or pleasure that would result (based on intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and extent), and get the sum total of its "good or bad tendency."

Front 6

What is Mill’s argument for higher quality pleasures? Which pleasures, for Mill, are the higher pleasures? Why does Mill want to show that there are higher quality pleasures?

Back 6

Mill says higher pleasures exist because if a person capable of appreciating two pleasures would say that one is preferable, namely the one that uses one's higher faculties. He makes this argument to defend the criticism that utilitarianism is "fit for swine"

Front 7

What is Mill’s conception of happiness?

Back 7

Happiness = pleasure and freedom from pain
Moments that are akin to rapture, few transitory pains, many various pleasures (more active pleasures than passive), and not expecting more of life than it is capable of bestowing.

Front 8

How does Mill respond to the criticism the happiness is unattainable by human beings?

Back 8

Happiness is not continuous excitement, which is impossible, but it is largely the fault of bad social institutions (that allow poverty, illness, and oppression) that most of humankind lives without happiness.

Front 9

What replies does Mill make to the objections that utilitarianism requires “too much,” of human beings by asking for:
self-sacrifice;

Back 9

In a more perfect society self-sacrifice would be minimized, but the only good reason for anyone’s interests to be sacrificed is that it is for the general happiness

Front 10

What replies does Mill make to the objections that utilitarianism requires “too much,” of human beings by asking for:
constant motivation to produce the greatest happiness;

Back 10

Utilitarianism does not require people to act on the motive of promoting the happiness of all-people act on many different motives, and while U judges agents by their motives, it judges acts by weather in fact they promote utility
Besides, most people are never in a position to promote the general happiness, and they can and should look to their own happiness and the happiness of others close to them

Front 11

What replies does Mill make to the objections that utilitarianism requires “too much,” of human beings by asking for:
difficult predictions for each action about what will produce the greatest happiness?

Back 11

Mill makes the case that we can look at the past to predict what will happen in certain situations. We have experienced certain situations before, so from experience we can predict outcomes to similar situations.

Front 12

What is the difference between act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism? Can you give reasons for and against the interpretation that Mill is a rule utilitarian?

Back 12

On AU, you follow the principle of utility directly for any act (although you might use “rules of thumb,” instead of actual calculations).

On RU, you follow general utility-producing rules.

Mill is sometimes confused as a rule utilitarian because he talks about the importance of rules. However, he is not a rule utilitarian because he acknowledges that utilitarianism can justify taking away people’s rights for the good of the whole.

Front 13

What does Mill believe are the internal and external sanction (motivation) for utilitarianism?

Back 13

The internal sanction is our own conscience, a "subjective feeling: in our own mind that attaches itself to doing what we think is right or wrong. The external sanction is hope of approval and fear of disapproval from others, or a divine being.

Front 14

How does Mill “prove” that happiness is an end (good) for human beings?

Back 14

• Questions about ends are questions about what is desirable.
• The only proof that an object is visible is that people actually see it.
• The only proof that a sound is audible is that people actually hear it.
• So, the only proof that something is desirable is that people actually desire it.
• People do desire (their own) happiness.
• So, happiness is desirable, is clearly an end for human beings.

Front 15

How does Mill “prove” that happiness is the only end for human beings?

Back 15

Things that we think are means to something that will make us happy, start to become no longer a means, but a part of happiness. So, nothing is desired by humans except happiness, and all things are desired either as means to happiness or a part of happiness.

Front 16

How does Mill “prove” that the general happiness is a good to all of us?

Back 16

Each person desires his own happiness. So, each person’s happiness is a good to that person. So, the general happiness is a good to the collective of people.

Front 17

Why is justice a challenge to utilitarianism?

Back 17

Because it seems Utilitarianism allows one to act unjustly, even harm someone or diminish their happiness, if it produces a greater aggregate happiness

Front 18

What does it mean to say that someone has a right to something, for Mill?

Back 18

A right is a valid claim on society to protecting a person in the possession of Y, either by law, education, or opinion.

Front 19

What is the link between justice and rights, for Mill?

Back 19

Justice involves moral obligations that are correlative to rights. Justice (vs. the rest of morality, of what is good or best) involves what some particular individual can claim as a right.

Front 20

How does Mill define justice in utilitarian terms?

Back 20

Justice is a certain class of moral rules which concern the essentials of human well-being more than any other rules for the guidance of life, and therefore involve more absolute obligations than other rules. In other words, these rules protect things that are the most important sources of “social utility” = human happiness.

Front 21

What is the sentiment of justice, for Mill?

Back 21

The natural or animal feeling of vengeance or retaliation that becomes a moral feeling when widened by intelligence and sympathy to extend to hurts seen as violating some general rule, and to include all persons, and perhaps other sentient beings.

Front 22

What is the relationship, in the end for Mill, between justice and utility?

Back 22

Justice is a matter of rights, and moral rights are grounded in their contribution to the general happiness or welfare of the whole community. However, they can be overridden by considerations for the general happiness.

Front 23

What can we learn about Mill’s attitude toward social progress by looking at his discussions of:

why most human beings cannot obtain happiness (14-15);

Back 23

Social progress is impeded by bad social arrangements, but is nonetheless possible.

Front 24

What can we learn about Mill’s attitude toward social progress by looking at his discussions of:

how our sympathy and recognition of others’ interests can expand (32-33; 50-52);

Back 24

Our sympathy and recognition of other's interests (sentiment of justice) can expand and be a catalyst for social progress by creating more egalitarian (equality-centered) institutions/arrangements.

Front 25

What can we learn about Mill’s attitude toward social progress by looking at his discussions of:

the equal claim of everyone to happiness (62-63)?

Back 25

Still kinda sketchy on this one, but everyone has an equal claim to happiness (because that's a feature of utilitarianism, add together the pleasures and pains of all people affected by a possible action) and again, social progress will be made if we create egalitarian institutions that make obtaining happiness easier.

Front 26

What can we learn about Mill’s attitude toward the role of morality in politics and the role of politics in morality from the passages above?

Back 26

Utilitarianism (mention it specifically, not just general morality) should guide politics so as to achieve the most happiness for the greatest number of people
Politics should be a platform for achieving happiness via utilitarianism, but I'm not quite sure.