The Pleasure Principle

” (484) He then begins to explain that happiness is the absence of pain, and pain is the absence of pleasure. He refers to utilitarianism as the Greatest Happiness Principle. Many people that disagreed with Mill’s definition of utilitarianism insulted his work by stating it as a “doctrine worthy only of swine,” (Mill 485). Mill responds to this attack by stating “...for if the sources of pleasure were precisely the same to human beings and to swine, the rule of which is good enough for the one…

two of the main utilities in the Greatest Happiness Principle: a person’s actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. This means that all other desires a person has are to fulfill these actions. Mills acknowledges that the overly simplistic idea of the Happiness Principle may cause human happiness to seem no more sophisticated…

because it claims that actions are morally right if they produce the desired consequences, which according to Mill, are pleasures. There are two types of Utilitarianism: Act Utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism. Act Utilitarianism examines behavior based on the actions taken while making a decision, while Rule Utilitarianism examines behavior based on the rules and principles that have been made to create the greatest amount of utility for…

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.…

“The creed which accepts as the foundations of morals, Utility, or the Greatest-Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure.” This quote, by John Stuart Mill, about Utilitarianism embodies my ethical decision making process in a way that Relativism, Deontology or any other…

great effect on one or many individuals. John Mill decided to extend this theory and state that it provides the greatest number of happiness for the greatest number of individuals. Moreover, Mill believed in the theory of the greatest happiness principle, which states “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” (Mill, J. 1879. P. 201) In this quote, Mill implies that any action an individual performs that bring…

higher level of pleasure. He sorts out the pleasures by the level of feeling. As the basic of his thought is from Bentham and his utilitarianism, it surely should think for pleasure for most people. But the difference is that Bentham emphasized quantity, but Mill focused on the quality. Mill said, “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied”, which means that there is difference between the level of pleasure. The…

as the base level of morals. Utilitarianism also is thought to say that actions can be good but also in correlation as they give off pleasure and are fallacious in the same correlation as they might produce the opposite of pleasure. Mill’s idea is different from Bentham’s theory because Mill’s created the Utilitarianism subject but he used Bentham’s ideas or principles. Mill and Bentham might have headed in a different direction because of their hypothesis’s in relation to the nature of humans.…

happiness one can create versus Bentham’s quantitative hedonistic view of just the net amount of happiness one can experience. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory is founded on a theory of value known as hedonism. Hedonism claims that happiness and pleasure alone are intrinsically good and that unhappiness and pain alone are intrinsically bad. It expresses that all other values are merely…

allow punishing innocent person if it will benefit the larger group. Similarly, it is highly unlikely to determine the consequences and nothing in principle is right or wrong given the circumstances. 3. A friend tells you the he is going to steal a flat screen tv from WalMart. His ethical justification is that it will give him a great deal of pleasure and the owners of WalMart will suffer very little so by Utilitarian Ethics it’s ok. Is his justification correct? Answer: If a friend of mine were…