John Stuart Mill

Aristotle’s ethics and John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism differ greatly when explaining where an individual’s happiness is. Mill states that pleasure and relief/freedom from pain are what compose an individual’s happiness. On the contrary, Aristotle believes that happiness comes from virtue. Happiness is a widely discussed topic and both John Stuart Mill and Aristotle spent a lot of time contemplating it. They both agreed on one aspect of happiness. They both came to the final conclusion that…

John Stuart Mill’s theory of higher and lower pleasures can be a tricky one. In fact, Mill defines happiness as the absence of pain, and unhappiness as the consequence of pain and the absence of pleasure. In other words, in his view, happiness is directly, related to pleasure. However, Mill points out the fact that not all pleasures are the same. For instance, he claims that intellectual pleasures are with no doubt safer than physical pleasures. As humans, we tend to chase the pleasures of…

answered and debated by philosophers for years. Some of the most prominent arguments have been made by John Stuart Mill and John Locke. While both are strong about their stances their opinions differ. In John Stuart Mill’s second chapter of On Liberty he presents one overarching conclusion, that any censorship of expression of opinion must be completely prevented.…

morally right actions as those actions that maximize happiness and minimize misery. Many believe that utilitarianism is an unrealistic theory. Arguments and responses to utilitarianism being too demanding have been made John Stuart Mill and Peter Singer. First, I will explain how Mill and Singer respond to the objection, and continue on with my own response on the behalf of the utilitarian. In “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” Singer responds to the objection of utilitarianism by stating that…

Jeremey Bentham, who popularized quantitative utilitarianism, and John Stuart Mill, who believed that utilitarianism was actually qualitative (Wilkens, 2011). While utilitarianism as a whole can seem clear-cut, John Stuart Mill’s theory of qualitative utilitarianism has many ethical problems, and is too simple to accurately address every moral decision. Utilitarianism is a fairly popular viewpoint when it comes to morality because it…

Pope John Paul II said “freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought”. Meaning someone may not agree with everything they are legally authorized to do, but they still have that right to do it if they please. Most believe that the United States’ restraints on freedom are slim, nevertheless there is still one major controversy people like to argue. The freedom to use drugs. What one does in their personal life and home, including the use of drugs,…

heavily with the utilitarian views of English philosopher John Stuart Mill, who in 1859, published On Liberty, an application of utilitarianism to society and state. Evidently, Marx’s and Mill’s views leaned towards different ends of the political spectrum, although their opposing viewpoints did hold underlying similarities. To that effect, the two thinkers’ contrasting worldviews will be studied through an analysis of their outlooks on…

Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are considered founders of Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory where moral rightness is measured by what brings the most happiness to the most people. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism because it is based on whether an action is morally justified by its consequences. Bentham and Mill differ in that Bentham reasoned that pleasure was measurable using hedons, units of pleasure, where actions with the highest score were the best…

An Individual’s Right to Choose. In John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty,” he placed much emphasis on individual liberty and its vital role in political society. To Mill, this phrase may be defined as the liberty of the individual to be the final judge over their actions; to decide what is right and wrong and to act upon that standard. Mill also implies one’s freedom to pursue one’s own individuality. He also believed in a society in which each individual leads their own distinctive life according to…

Bentham and Mill, although both firm believers in Utilitarianism, had somewhat different views when it came to decision making. Bentham uses a step by step process in his essay describing the thought process that one should have when determining the outcome of an action. Similar to Mill’s belief, if the outcome were to bring more happiness to the community as a whole than pain, than that decision is just. However, Mill believed that to make a proper and good decision required using the analyzing…