John Stuart Mill The Ethical Background of Utilitarianism J S Mill What Utilitarianism Is On Liberty Editor s Introduction 4 9 J S Mill Biographical Background Born new London 1806 Father James was a political reformer and close friend of Jeremy Bentham an early utilitarian thinker Mill s upbringing and education were experiments in rationalistic conditioning Held high positions in the East India Company Retired suffered mental breakdown After recovery began to write and served in Parliament Died 1873 An empiricist much like Hobbes o There are no innate ideas o The contents of our minds are composed of out of the raw data of the In writing and politics fought for liberal reform and the rights of women senses An ethical naturalist scientifically commands o There are objective moral principles which can be understood o Yet these have their source in our nature not in divine or religious A psychological and ethical individualist o We are each the best judges of our own interests and happiness From the 18th to the 19th Century Technological Change Economic Change cornerstone Class Change classes of capitalist and wage laborer representative democracy Political Change Industrial Revolution and growth of modern science industry and commerce overtook agriculture as the economic feudal classes of landowner and peasant gave way to industrial progressive political reform expansion of suffrage growth of Consequentialism A family of moral theories which maintain o That the moral worth or status of an action is a function of the consequences of the action o That no action is good or bad in itself Some Other Moral Theories Absolutism consequences actions are right or wrong either prior to or irrespective of their o Natural Law Theory e o Plato s moral realist theory actions are right or wrong in themselves according to whether go with or against the objective moral order of the world g Thomas Aquinas or John Locke maintains that an action is good or bad right or wrong in virtue of its conformity with or opposition to Natural Law which is given by God o Deontological moral theory e g Immanuel Kant wrong in virtue of its conformity with or opposition to a universalizable law announcing a duty an action is right or Consequentialism cont Morality does not consist of a list of approved and forbidden actions rather actions are generally good or bad because they generally have good or bad consequences There may be unusual cases in which e g stealing or adultery could have on balance good consequences Utilitarianism Consequentialism requires a metric with which to measure good or bad consequences utility is such a metric Utilitarians generally fall into two groups o Hedonistic Utility defined as pleasure in the simple sense of the gratification of an immediate passion differences between pleasures pains are only matters of intensity and duration Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters pain and pleasure It is for them alone to point what we ought to do as well as to define what we shall do They govern us in all we do in all we say in all we think Jeremy Bentham Principles of Morals and Legislation Eudaimonistic Utility defined as happiness in a more elevated and expansive sense implying some kind of human flourishing beyond mere pleasure Mill s view recognizes that happiness is a matter of individual experience my happiness might differ in its source from yours The Greatest Happiness Principle The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals Utility or the Greatest Happiness Principle holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness p 137 One s utility consists in one s pleasure happiness minus one s pain unhappiness Thus utility can be maximized both by increasing happiness and by reducing suffering An Order of Faculties and Satisfactions The ingredients of happiness will vary from person to person but for every human being some kinds or ingredients of happiness have greater value than others 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 is of a different opinion it is because they know only their own side of the question The other party to the comparison knows both sides p 140 Altruism and Qualified Egoism The measure of the morality of my actions is not merely how effectively they contribute to my individual happiness but also how effectively my actions contribute to the greatest happiness for the greatest number of persons The utilitarian morality does not recognize in human beings the power of sacrificing their own greatest good for the good of others It only refuses to admit that the sacrifice is itself a good A sacrifice which does not increase or tend to increase the sum total of happiness it considers wasted p 148 Discounting happiness my happiness justifiably comes first in my own calculations and choices but my happiness is not all that matters qualified egoism Act Utilitarianism v Rule Utilitarianism Act Utilitarianism utility of likely outcomes each individual action should be guided by calculations of the o The purest form of utilitarianism but almost impossible for a person to follow in real life Rule Utilitarianism that are most likely to maximize utility individuals should follow the rules of decision and conduct o More practicable and looks more like our ordinary senses of what is right and wrong Aggregate Utility society others factors into account Average Utility Hybrid Measures Measuring Social Utility Aggregate Average and Hybrids the simple arithmetic sum of the utility of all the members of a aggregate utility divided by the number of persons in society assess the distribution of utility by taking demographic or Regardless of the measure used utilitarianism may assess the goodness of society as well as the moral worth of individuals and individual actions 4 16 The Case for Liberty Utilitarianism A consequentialist moral theory How to measure utility o Hedonism utility pleasure o Eudaimonism utility happiness How to maximize utility o The Greatest Happiness Principle How to seek utility o Act Utilitarianism calculate and maximize utility in individual actions o Rule Utilitarianism follow rules that tend to maximize utility The Subject of Liberty The subject of this essay is not the so called liberty of the will but civil or social liberty the nature and