John Stuart Mill –Utilitarianism
February 26, 2010
ayamiz
Tags: utilitarianism
Quote: “This, being according to the utilitarian opinion, the end of human action, is necessarily also the standard of morality; which may accordingly be defined, the rules and precepts of human conduct, by the observance of which an existence such as has been described might be, to the greatest extent possible, secured to all mankind; and not only to them, but so far as the nature of things admits, to the whole sentient creation…”
What I expect to learn: I expect to learn about Utilitarianism as well as its relationship to morality.
Review:
Happiness is one thing that almost people can achieve, no matter your race, your status in life, you can achieve happiness. There is what we call The Principle of Utility or The Greatest Happiness Principle, which believes that happiness is equal to pleasure. This principle believes that all actions leading to happiness can be considered good and if all actions lead to pain it can be considered as something bad. Happiness can be considered good if it promotes happiness. But if a person who smoke, because he finds pleasure in smoking and pleasure is equals to happiness, then how can it be categorized? There is what you call a higher pleasures wherein you will prefer mental pleasures over bodily pleasures, and lower pleasures, wherein you submit to the bodily pleasures. This example falls to lower pleasures, because the person knew that smoking is really bad for their health, but instead of avoiding it, their body has overtaken them and they continue to do this. Just like in loving a person, we are given the mind and the heart, our mind is on the top on all of the parts of the body, because we must first use this, before doing everything else. We are given that, so that we will use first our mind and then heart if the person is really the one. But what happens most of the time is that people use their hearts first, which in return doesn’t change anything and instead make things worse.
What I learned:
- Utilitarianism and Greatest Happiness Principle
- Just you are happy, doesn’t mean it is good already.
- There is what you call as higher and lower pleasure.
- There are many factors to be considered to say that happiness promotes pleasure.
Integrative Questions:
- What is utilitarianism?
- When can you say that an act is good or bad, in The Greatest Happiness Principle?
- What are the two types of pleasure?
- How can you justify that pleasure results to happiness?
- How is utilitarianism related to morality?
Entry Filed under: Contemporary Moral Problems
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