Defending Utilitarianism- Mills Answer - 1163 Words

Defending Utilitarianism: Mill’s posthumous answer to Nozick’s experience machine â€Å"The greatest good for the greatest number†; that is how the British philosopher John Stuart Mill famously summarized utilitarianism (Shafer-Landau, 2012b, p. 120). He is not only one of the greatest utilitarians, he is also a hedonist. Hence, he believed that this greatest good can be achieved by focussing all action on attaining the greatest amount of happiness. Mill describes utility as holding ‘that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness’ ((Shafer-Landau, 2012a, p. 17). He defines happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain, and unhappiness as pain and the privation of pleasure. Hence, Mill argues that only pleasure is intrinsically desirable and only misery intrinsically bad (Shafer-Landau, 2012a, p. 120). All other desirable things are only desirable as means to promote pleasure or prevent pain (Shafer-Landau, 2012a, p. 18). Therefore, in order to refute Mill’s u tilitarianism, one would have to show that there is something other than pleasure or the freedom from pain that is intrinsically desirable. First, Robert Nozick’s attempt to disprove utilitarianism and hedonism in the shape of his ‘experience machine’ will be explained. Next, Mill’s arguments in favour of utilitarianism and hedonism will be recapitulated in an attempt to answer the central research question: why does Nozick’s experienceShow MoreRelatedThe Age Of Reason Or Known As The Enlightenment1189 Words   |  5 Pageswell known English-speaking, British Philosopher. Mill grew up well educated by his father, James Mill, who taught him Greek and Latin, in which her fully excelled. He also studied logics, mathematics, and mastered the basics of the economic theory. Mill’s strenuous academic studies came from his father’s plan to make, â€Å" †¦ a young proponent of the views of the philosophical (bio.com).† However, in the late 1820s Mill suffered a severe mental crisis. This was due to the intense educational work loadRead MoreJohn Stuart Mill ´s The Greatest Happiness Principle Essay906 Words   |  4 PagesI will be explaining John Stuart Mill’s view on ethics. This includes explaining the â€Å"Greatest Happiness Principle†, happiness, unhappiness, quality of pleasure, lying, and the relevance of time with his view. I will then explain how I agree with the principle of Rule Utilitarianism. I will also consider the objection of conflicting rules in Rule Utilitarianism as well as that of negative responsibility, giving my response to each. Mill claims that morals find their root in Utility, otherwise calledRead MoreThe Dilemma Of The Death Penalty1703 Words   |  7 PagesThere are many ethical issues that beset our society in this day and age. 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Mills principle sought to guarantee a sphere of self-regarding action that is inviolable, and exempt from social control, where individuals could experiment different ways of living evenRead MoreThe Ethical Dilemma Of The Death Penalty1814 Words   |  8 Pagesa Utilitarianist and a Deontologist Viewpoint There are many ethical issues that beset our society in this day and age. This paper will discuss the ethological dilemma of the death penalty from the perspective of the philosophical outlooks of Utilitarianism and Deontology, present arguments in light of both, and proceed to show why Deontology offers the best insights into the justification for the death penalty. The death penalty, also known as â€Å"capital punishment†, is, â€Å"the sentence of executionRead MoreJurisprudential Theories on IPR13115 Words   |  53 Pagesof self. But it was also because he thought the productivity of labor would help answer some of the difficulties which he saw in First Occupancy theory. 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