Utilitarianism: The Position Of John Stuart Mill

In order to understand the position of John Stuart Mill in both of these situations, one must recognize what he advocates. Therefore, it is reasonable to assess the concept of utilitarianism with his work, “Utilitarianism”. The rudimentary perception behind this philosophical notion is that deeds are ethically correct only if they produce the greatest overall amount of good for everyone, or in this case, happiness. This is otherwise known as, “the effects of things upon their happiness, the principle of utility, or as Bentham latterly called it, the greatest happiness principle” (Mill, 2004). Using this straightforward characterization of utilitarianism, both scenarios can be appropriately evaluated in terms of what Mill would tell the rescuer to do concerning who the survivors should consist …show more content…
Should there be more happiness to arise from the single person rather than the group of five people, then Mill would persuade the rescuer to recover the individual instead of the other crowd. However, since the rescuer would not have time to contemplate which action would be best, they would most likely save the group of five as it produces the most amount of happiness given the circumstances. Mill’s perception of utilitarianism is applicable in the second occasion to the same extent, as it would be morally adequate to run over the individual on the path assuming that the action would produce more happiness resulting out of the group over the solitary casualty. However, Mill also elaborates that "No reason can be given why the general happiness is desirable except that each person ... desires his own happiness” (Mill, 2004). So while the general description of utilitarianism deals with the impression of which action produces the most happiness in a certain scenario, Mill also says that everyone is entitled to their own sense of