John Stuart Mill and Utilitarianism

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

  • Born May 20, 1806, in Pentonville, London, United Kingdom.

  • Son of James Mill, a friend and disciple of Jeremy Bentham.

  • Home-schooled.

  • Studied Greek at age 3 and Latin at age 8.

  • Wrote a history of Roman Law at age 11.

  • Suffered a nervous breakdown at age 20.

  • Married to Harriet Taylor after 21 years of friendship.

  • Died on May 8, 1873, in Avignon, France, from erysipelas.

Utilitarianism

  • Definition: Actions derive their moral quality from their usefulness as means to some end, especially producing happiness or unhappiness.

  • Application to Civics and Politics: The greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the sole end and criterion of all public action.

Ethical Situations

  • Generally involve:

    • A moral agent.

    • An action or series of actions.

    • Consequences.

    • A recipient of the consequences.

Components of Ethical Situations

  • Moral Agent: Responsible for action (the doer), assigned praise or blame.

  • Action: Occurs as a result of the moral agent’s decision-making process.

  • Consequences: Results from the action.

  • Recipient: Receives the consequences of the moral agent’s action(s).

Utilitarian Ethics

  • Consequentialist (consequence-based).

  • Key considerations:

    • They cause.

    • The maximum.

    • Total (aggregate).

    • Utility for the considered recipients of action.

  • Focuses on maximizing total utility, not necessarily best outcomes for all recipients.

  • Utility is abstract and must be defined.

John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism

  • A more sophisticated form of Utilitarianism.

  • Concerned with the quality of pleasure and the quantity of people who enjoy it.

  • Recognizes higher and lower types of human pleasure.

    • Lower pleasures: eating, drinking, sexuality, etc.

    • Higher pleasures: intellectuality, creativity, and spirituality.

  • Quote: ‘Better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.’

  • Related to ‘Rule’ Utilitarianism.

Mill’s Adjustments to Utilitarianism

  • Must consider the quality of happiness, not merely the quantity.

  • Example: Happiness from beer and pizza vs. happiness from a Shakespearean play; the latter has greater quality.

Mill’s Quality Arguments

  • "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question. The other party to the comparison knows both sides."

Two Types of Utilitarianism

  • Act Utilitarianism (Jeremy Bentham):

    • An action is right if and only if it produces the greatest balance of pleasure over pain for the greatest number.

  • Rule Utilitarianism (John Stuart Mill):

    • An action is right if and only if it conforms to a set of rules the general acceptance of which would produce the greatest balance of pleasure over pain for the greatest number.

Act Utilitarianism (Contemporary)

  • “An act is right if and only if it results in as much good as any available alternative.”

Rule Utilitarianism

  • “An act is right if and only if it is required by a rule that is itself a member of a set of rules whose acceptance would lead to greater utility for society than any available alternative.”

Rule Utilitarianism Details

  • Debated as a valid form of Utilitarianism.

  • Exceptions to the rules can often be found.

  • Three levels of rules suggested:

    • Rules of thumb always to be followed unless in conflict with another rule.

    • Higher-level rules which override thumb rules.

    • No rules apply – do your best!

Mill’s “Rule” Utilitarianism

  • ". . . Mankind must by this time have acquired positive beliefs as to the effects of some actions on their happiness; and the beliefs which have thus come down are the rules of morality for the multitude, and for the philosopher until he has succeeded in finding better.”

  • Mill concludes that we should always seek improvements.

Four Theses of Utilitarianism

  • Consequentialism: The rightness of actions is determined solely by their consequences.

  • Hedonism: Utility is the degree to which an act produces pleasure. Hedonism is the thesis that pleasure or happiness is the good that we seek and that we should seek.

  • Maximalism: A right action produces the greatest good consequences and the least bad.

  • Universalism: The consequences to be considered are those of everyone affected, and everyone equally.

Two Formulations of Utilitarian Theory

  • Principle of Utility: The best action is that which produces the greatest happiness and/or reduces pain.

  • Greatest Happiness: We ought to do that which produces the greatest happiness and least pain for the greatest number of people.