John Stuart Mill And Jeremy Bentham's Theory Of Utilitarianism

Throughout utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham propose the various way in which the state can be justified. Methods of justifying the state, for Bentham, was through political obligation, or the cost and benefit analysis of individuals rights. Mill’s reaction to Bentham’s statement was that it compromised the rights of not just all individuals, but mainly the rights of the minority population. Many issues are seen on Bentham’s idea on utilitarianism though proposed issues such as the scapegoat theory, interpersonal connections, and the idea of a universal rule for utilitarianism. Critics of utilitarianism speculate that such issues do not account for individual rights, which is later addressed by Mill’s introduction of democratic ideals that functions as an alternative to …show more content…
Mill attempts to account for individual utility and that no rights are violated because everyone’s view is equal. J.S. Mill’s attempt to address the rights of the majority while protecting the rights of the minority, in my opinion, has not been successful in securing individual rights due to the injustices of democracy through the tyranny of the majority.

Utilitarianism functions as an alternative to the earlier proposed idea of the Social Contract by analyzing how the social contract could have any moral force at all and how the states are worthy of our consent from the beginning. The political theory of utilitarianism was initially proposed by Jeremy Bentham, claiming that the state was justified by the ability to contribute to the overall well-being and moral happiness of its people. Bentham attempted to calculate the right course of action through legislation that achieved the greatest happiness principle. The cost and benefit analysis subjected individuals to utilitarian calculations. Bentham viewed the common good as not a mutual advantage but as an