3E - John Stuart Mill’s development of Utilitarianism: Types of Pleasure, The Harm Principle, The Use of Rules

Mill, a former pupil of Bentham, had two criticisms of act utilitarianism; what were they?

Mill, a former pupil of Bentham, had two criticisms of act utilitarianism; what were they?

1) Bentham was trying to measure pleasure in quantitative terms, which appeared to allow for some actions to be called good when to others they are wrong
⇨ E.g. Bentham's approach seemingly justifies gang rape ∵ the pleasure of the rapists exceeds that of the victim
⇨ "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied"

2) Act utilitarianism = too complex; applying the calculus is time consuming

How is Aristotle's 'eudaimonia' close to Mill's view?

⇨ Eudaimonia ≠ mere gratification, but includes the idea of being well-fulfilled

What is Mill's first change to act utilitarianism?

⇨ Higher and lower pleasures

Elaborate on Mill's first change to act utilitarianism (higher and lower pleasures).

⇨ Shifted the focus from quantity of the pleasure/happiness

⇨ Recognised that some pleasures were superior to others

⇨ Mill = aware that often people did not choose the higher pleasure in preference for the lower; he felt this was ∵ they had not experienced both

⇨ Mill recognised that people must satisfy the lower pleasures - you need to eat and sleep or procreate through sex, but you should aspire for the higher pleasures

⇨ In Bentham's, the pleasure that sadistic prison guards may get from torturing a prisoner = justified ∵ multiple of them
- In Mill's, the pleasure of torture = a lower pleasure ∴ does not outweigh the acute pain of the prisoner

What are higher pleasures?

⇨ Intellectual; stimulate the mind
⇨ E.g. reading philosophy, aesthetic appreciation, forgiveness

What are lower pleasures?

⇨ Physical; stimulate the body
⇨ Eating to satisfy hunger, sex

What was Mill's second change to act utilitarianism?

⇨ The harm principle

Give a brief background to the harm principle

⇨ Like Bentham, Mill was interested in social reform (he was a civil servant, MP, and political economist)

⇨ Mill introduced the idea of universalisability; what is right/wrong for one person is right/wrong for all - happiness is the only thing desirable as an end ∴ everyone ought to aim at the happiness of everyone (collective happiness)

⇨ This led him to develop the harm principle

Elaborate on Mill's second change to act utilitarianism (the harm principle).

⇨ Bentham's act utilitarianism = criticised for potentially allowing evil actions to be justified

⇨ Mill believed, as Bentham did, that individuals should have the freedom (liberty) to do what they like when trying to create pleasure/happiness; as collective happiness = as important as individual, it should be of concern that others are happy too

⇨ An individual's liberty to create happiness should have one exception: individuals should not have the freedom to harm another individual - they should not indulge their own pleasures if it affects the pleasure of others and brings them pain

⇨ "The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against their will, is to prevent harm to others."

⇨ ∴ criticism = addressed ∵ the torturers (for example) should be stopped from the action from which they get happiness ∵ they are harming another human being, despite the fact that they are creating more pleasure than pain

Despite his two changes, why did Mill realise that act utilitarianism was still a challenging ethic to follow?
What did he therefore do?

⇨ ∵ of its complexity, esp. when applying the calculus

⇨ He ∴ developed a further change that became known as rule utilitarianism

Explain rule utilitarianism.

⇨ Previous moral experiences could help in moral decision making: moral agents become aware that certain actions always bring about happiness

⇨ Mill believed there were universal deontological rules (hence the name) that society could follow which would bring the maximum outcome of happiness e.g. being kind

⇨ "Mankind must by this time have acquired positive beliefs as to effects of some actions on their happiness"

⇨ Good/right = Following a deontological rule that creates the outcome (telos) of maximising pleasure over pain

⇨ Bad/wrong = Breaking a deontological rule that creates the outcome (telos) of maximising pleasure over pain∴ despite being deontological, rule utilitarianism has teleological elements ∵ the moral agent is only following the rules with aim of creating the biggest gap between pleasure and pain

What is a key benefit of rule utilitarianism?

⇨ Moral agents no longer need to use the slow hedonic calculus ∵ they can now follow the relevant rule in every moral dilemma

Give a difference between act and rule utilitarianism.

⇨ Act: follows teleological principle of utility
- Abortion: consider each individual act of abortion and apply the hedonic calculus

⇨ Rule: Follows a set of deontological rules
- Abortion: if the general experience = that abortion brings greatest balance pleasure, accepting would be the deontological rule, which would be applied to all cases

What is the difference between strong and weak rule utilitarianism?

⇨ Strong: Following the rules w/ no exception

⇨ Weak: The rule can be broken in exceptional circumstances (which Mill never clearly defined) and the moral agent can switch back to using act utilitarianism + use hedonic calculus
- E.g. 'do not kill' might be broken in WWII if a person had the opp. to kill Hitler
- A hybrid of teleological + deontological

Did Mill favour strong or weak rule utilitarianism?

⇨ Weak