How Does John Stuart Mill Promote Happiness

John Stuart Mill—a philosopher whom believed that another name for utility is the greatest form of happiness, a principal lead by the clause “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness are intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure”. With this, Mill presents the concept of utility as a stem from the presence of pleasure and the absence of pain within basic desires. According to Mill, the more valuable a pleasure becomes, the more of likelihood that an individual will employ higher faculties. Mill often juxtaposes human values of pleasure with that of pain. The pleasures of intellect, feelings and imagination along with the moral sentiments are held to a higher value than other formalities of pleasure. Within my personal philosophical challenge, it was brought to my attention that becoming a senior in college comes with great responsibility. It is necessary for seniors in college to maintain a basic understanding of what they want their future to entail and how they plan on achieving their life goals to acquire the set future which will make them reach their full potential of happiness. It has been an obsolete challenge within my life when coming to the realization that the majority of my colleagues are not ready to graduate and are still in their pre-collegiate mindset. In order to improve ones self they need to mature and I have found that the majority of college students have not come to the realization—that they must come to an understanding of who they are as a person and that holding onto their college years after their graduation will hold them back from accomplishing their dreams. I unfortunately have found myself excelling in regards of my future and that I am more prepared than most for our college graduation. If society as a whole were to teach younger generations to really know what they, as individuals want to accomplish in their life at a young age, it would make room for a bright future. In hopes of these younger generations acquiring the knowledge required with attaining a bright future, they must understand that generations to come would have a similar mindset and in turn would maximize their potential should present generations strive for their own full potential. Reaching full potential as individual members of society will eventually make a ‘good’ environment for growth and increase the likelihood that younger generations will strive to reach their positive self versus being completely focused on adolescent activities such as having a purely social outlook on life. With regard to my ethical decision, Mill’s concept of utilitarianism would be a potential course of action because as elaborated on earlier, he believes that when making an ethical decision or a choice between two pleasurable options, one must choose the option that produces the most quality of pleasure for the greatest amount of people. Should people around the world accept the fact that their individual futures are among the most important aspects of ones life, eventually everyone will realize the importance of maintaining ones maturity level and hopefully building up …show more content…
He thinks that having the capacity to formulate arguments leads to a more theoretical world. He states that practical reasoning is how one applies ethical fashion. I believe that in order to make an ethical choice about any given situation, I would absolutely choose the philosophical teachings of John Stuart Mill because happiness is the center of all things. Without ones highest form of self and ones own happiness, the world would be a different place and would fall into a negative state whereas if people were to think positively, it could improve society as we know …show more content…
I can see how Benedicts position could pose as a problem because his positioning appears to lean towards unethical versus ethical. Gay marriage, murder, gun control laws are all controversial issues and ideas that not all cultures would consider a ‘cultural normality’ or cultural abnormality. Depending on the country the individual is from, they could base every aspect of their life within their religious beliefs, or even the ideals of their families. Depending on the extremities of given situations, it would most likely be handled