Philosophy Final - John Stuart Mill

what is the main goal of utilitarianism

maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain

what is utilitarianism a sub-category of?

consequentialism

how do mill’s beliefs differ from nietzsche’s and kant’s when it comes to egalitarianism

his beliefs apply to all of humanity and was an activist for women’s rights

what did mill advocate for

women’s rights and free speech

what did mill think about colonialism?

he defended it because his ideas about liberty didn’t apply to less-educated or mature people/races

why is mill egalitarian from a utilitarian perspective?

because we all have equal capacity to feel pleasure and pain.

what is hedonism?

the belief that happiness/pleasure is the highest good

how does hedonism differ from utilitarianism?

it’s not concerned with the fate of everyone, only with pleasure

what is the relationship between utilitarianism / hedonism?

you can be both. most utilitarians are hedonists, but not all hedonists are utilitarian.

what is psychological egoism?

the view that all human actions are motivated by self-interest

is mill a psychological egoist? why or why not?

not really. he thinks people can be motivated by virtue for its own sake as well as things like money or power.

does mill support or reject psychological egoism? why?

he rejects it because he believes people can act for reasons other than happiness, like duty.

what is the principle of utility?

the idea that happiness is the only thing that is valuable for its own sake

what constitutes a “right” action in mill’s mind?

if it maximizes total happiness, not only your own.

what does mill say about how things are desirable?

“the only proof that an object is desirable, is that people actually desire it”

What is the argument for the principle of utility / utilitaranism?

utilitarianism is only true if and only if happiness is the one and only thing desirable for its own sake, (money, power, etc. are only parts of happiness) and the only proof of desirability is desire itself. Hence, utilitarianism is true.

what is the objection to the argument for utilitarianism

people desire the wrong things all the time and being desirable is not the same thing as being desired. Hence, our desires need constraints.

what is mimetic desire?

our tendency to imitate others, trends, and crowds.

what question does mimetic desire raise?

do you want things because you want them or because others want them?

what is the fallacy of composition?

mistakenly assuming what is true of a part is true of the whole

What is the objection to utilitarianism based of fallacy of composition?

Mill discusses the desires of individuals and assumes it applies to humanity as a whole: If these things are all good, the sum must also be good.

what is mills opinion on population control

he and bentham favor it, as well as social interventions to limit family sizes

what is the malthusian trap?

as the food supply increases, the standard of living goes up but then population growth causes it to decline

what are competent judges regarding pleasure value

the qualitative difference between pleasures

what does mill say about well-being?

its sometimes a more useful concept than happiness

what are the big 3 theories about well-being?

hedonist, desire-fulfillment, objective-list

what is the central statement around hedonist theories?

what would be best for you is what will make your life the happiest.

what is the central claim of desire-fulfillment theories?

well-being involves what would fulfill our desires

what is the central claim of objective-list theories?

certain things are good or bad for us, whether we want to have good things or avoid the bad

how do we measure happiness?

well-being is used to see what people desire and prioritize

what is the harm principle?

there is a difference between mere offenses and actual harms

what is the difference between an offense and a harm?

offenses are not that serious, harms set back interests where we have rights

what is the “Mississippi appendectomy”?

Fanny Lou Hamer’s excerpt on the involuntary sterilization of black women that affected their reproductive rights

what is paternalism?

control of others thinking their interests need to be protected

what is soft-paternalism?

intervention to make sure someone understands what they’re doing

what is hard-paternalism?

prevent someone from doing something they fully understand

what does mill say about paternalism?

he opposes it because each individual’s good depends on their specific nature.

what is mill’s book where he discusses paternalism?

on liberty

what is the paternalism objection?

we can’t clearly determine what another person’s nature is, so we dont know whats best for them.

what are people competant judges?

people who have experienced higher and lower pleasures to a significant extent

compare elitism to egalitarianism in regards to pleasure

not all pleasures are equal, but we should be equal

what is subjectivism?

the idea that things are based on opinon

what would a subjectivist argue about pleasure

its based on opinion

is mill a subjectivist why or why not?

not really, he thinks a persons nature determines what will be best for them, but our judgement on what brings us pleasure could be wrong