Mills's Utilitarian Theory

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Mills utilitarian theory was written so that he could go over various misconceptions about the theory, and to address the value of utilitarianism. His theory states that every person’s happiness is equal to another’s, stating no one’s happiness is more important than anyone else’s. He adopts the principle that to achieve the greatest amount of happiness, you must do the greatest good. Mills also introduced the concept of right, and wrong decisions. Based off of this he states that a “wrong action” would be one that doesn’t maximize happiness. While one that does, would be a decision that does maximize happiness. The utilitarian theory requires us to have vast insight in some cases, into what the future may hold for us, as well as insight into …show more content…
In order for us to know they are a part of our happiness we would have to know they are coming. Based on what happiness is stated to be, which is pleasure with no pain, then in order to know what decisions will help us maximize happiness, we would have to already know the outcomes of these decisions. There is not always certainty which decisions will help maximize happiness for ourselves, or a group of people. You can however get a general idea of which decision would be best, based on an overview of what could be possible outcomes of the decisions. Being able to maximize happiness is an ideal that almost everyone would want. But in order to ensure that your happiness would be maximized, knowing the outcomes of your decisions before you make them is vital. A situation you thought could make you extremely happy, might instead make you miserable. In addition to this, there are also several key issues with utilitarianism. One being that for some people, complete happiness can come from brining misery to others. Obviously their happiness is not maximized through these decisions of others, that maximize their happiness. An example of this would be

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