Mill notes

01/17/2013

Week 1 Jan 7
POL320, Mill, Utilitarianism, On Liberty c.1 (on Bb)
Utilitarianism = The ethical doctrine that virtue is based on utility, and
that conduct should be directed toward promoting the greatest happiness of
the greatest number of persons.
Mill & utilitarianism: what principles are the notions of "right" and "wrong"
are based on?
essay written to provide support for the value of utilitarianism as a
moral theory
principle that "actions are right in proportion as they tend to
promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of
happiness."
o happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain
o pleasure can differ in quality and quantity, and that pleasures
that are rooted in one's higher faculties should be weighted
more heavily than baser pleasures
o people's achievement of goals and ends, such as virtuous
living, should be counted as part of their happiness

Mill argues that utilitarianism coincides with "natural" sentiments

State of Nature
o utilitarianism as an ethic = people would naturally internalize
these standards as morally binding.
o Morality = happiness = our only desire
o the sentiment of justice is actually based on utility, and that
rights exist only because they are necessary for human
happiness.

He notes that utilitarianism has had tremendous influence in

shaping moral doctrines, even among those people who reject the
principle, such as Immanuel Kant.
o Utilitarianism cannot be "proven" in the ordinary sense of the
word, Mill asserts, since it is not possible to prove questions
regarding ultimate ends.
o Rather, the only statements that can be proven to be valid are
those statements that lead to other statements that we
accept to be valid.

Structure = 5 paragraphs to his moral theory essay

o 1 intro

in science particular truths can still have meaning even

if we do not understand the principles underlying them;
in contrast, in areas such as law or ethics, a statement
unfounded upon a generally accepted theoretical basis
has very little validity at all
in order to know what morality dictates, it is necessary
to know by what standard human actions should be
judged.
2 - definition of utilitarianism
3 - the ultimate sanctions (or rewards) that utilitarianism can
offer
4 - methods of proving the validity of utilitarianism
5 - connection between justice and utility, and argues that
happiness is the foundation of justice

o
o
o
o

Critique:
it does not provide adequate protection for individual rights, that
not everything can be measured by the same standard, and that
happiness is more complex
Mills, morality & lying morality for the majority = first principle
morality's essential function is to bring about the "best," general
state of the world, or whether its function is to govern individual
acts independent of their more general consequences: if one
believes that the point of morality is to create a better world as a
whole, and if you accept that lying is bad, then the fewer total lies
in the world the better, and one should tell that first lie to prevent
the other five from being told.
o Mill & Kant Mill identifies pleasure or happiness as the
highest good for humanity. Kant argues that morality is to be
defined in terms of duty. One must act not only in accordance
with duty, but for the sake of duty. Kant believes that moral
principles are rational principles. Furthermore, whereas Mill
emphasizes the good consequences that emanate from an
act, Kant argues that certain acts such as telling the truth are
good in themselves, regardless of the consequences that may
result from telling the truth.
It is not enough simply to characterize actions as good or evil;
rather, there must be something about these actions that gives
them a moral nature, and a reason why terms like "good" and "evil"
have such resonance in the first place.