J.S. Mill Utilitarianism and two formula of utilitarianism
- 1. J.S. MILL, UTILITARIANISM (1863) By: Carlo Uozoia AB-Philosophy 3
- 2. JOHN STUART MILL (1806-1873, ENGLAND) Mill “had a lifelong goal of reforming the world in the interest of human well-being” http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mill/
- 3. There ought either to be some one fundamental principle or law, at the root of all morality, or if there be several, there should be a determinate order of precedence among them…”
- 4. OVERVIEW OF MILL’S UTILITARIANISM Simplified: we can judge the moral value of actions by the degree of happiness they tend to produce for sentient creatures involved.
- 5. UTILITARIANISM J.S. Mill wanted utilitarian principle as the foundation of morals This principle says actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote overall human happiness.
- 6. TWO FORMULATIONS OF UTILITARIANISM 1. Act Utilitarianism an action is objectively right, if it actually promotes happiness. It requires us to aim for the maximization of happiness. Act in a way that promotes happiness the most.
- 7. TWO FORMULATIONS OF UTILITARIANISM 2. Rule Utilitarianism an action would be objectively right, if it actually corresponds to rules that promote happiness. It requires us to observe rules that facilitate happiness. Follow a rule whose general observance promotes happiness the most.
- 8. FIRST FORMULA OF UTILITARIANISM The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle (GHP), holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure. To give a clear view of the moral standard set up by the theory, much more requires to be said (…). But these supplementary explanations do not affect the theory of life on which this theory of morality is grounded….”
- 9. SECOND FORMULA OF UTILITARIANISM According to the GHP… the ultimate end … is an existence exempt as far as possible from pain, and as rich as possible in enjoyments, both in point of quantity and quality; …. 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 for 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 to them only, but, so far as the nature of things admits, to the whole sentient creation.
- 10. TWO FORMULA OF UTILITARIANISM The Second Formula relates the principle of utility to rules and precepts and not to actions. It seems to say that an act is correct when it corresponds to rules whose preservation increases the mass of happiness in the world. And this appears to be a rule-utilitarian conception.
- 11. TWO FORMULA OF UTILITARIANISM Act Utilitarianism - what is right and what an agent has most reason to do. Rule Utilitarianism -we are morally obliged to follow those social rules and precepts the observance of which promotes happiness in the greatest extent possible.
- 12. SOURCE: Mill, John Stuart, The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. Gen. Ed. John M. Robson. 33 vols. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963-91.