Does J.S.Mill abandon Utilitarianism?

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Does J.S.Mill abandon Utilitarianism?

Utilitarianism is a simple and comprehensive ethical theory. Its central principle is that right and wrong should be understood in terms on resultant happiness. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) was one of the main theorists with regards to utilitarianism and he believed that “the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation”. The moral philosophy behind Utilitarianism is that a person ought to do whatever they require in order to maximise the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Utilitarianism is also described as a consequentialist theory of morality, “the morality of actions depends on the consequences which they tend to produce”. An action is morally right if and only if it leads to the greatest good of the greatest number over the greatest length of time. John Stuart Mill along with many others had a view on how the Utilitarian theory should be interpreted and, whether or not he eventually seemed to abandon the whole theory is something, which will be looked at and evaluated throughout the essay.

Just briefly before I start analysing J.S.Mill and his interpretation on Utilitarianism, I will discuss what work Mill eventually seemed to develop. Jeremy Benthams initial thoughts on Utilitarianism were that in any situation we should act in order to pursue the greatest pleasure and in accordance with that, the least pain. The whole concept of Utilitarianism derived from the Industrial revolution where people were being mistreated. Bentham believed that the exact amount of suffering warranted exactly the same consideration. Bentham proposed a quantitative hedonic calculus, estimating pleasures in terms of their “intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity (how long you have to wait for it), fecundity (how many other pleasures follow upon this one), and purity (the degree to which this pleasure is unmixed with pain)”.

The work, which Mill somewhat developed, was the Benthamite theory that utilitarianism was the principle of the greatest happiness of the greatest number. There were many problems, which were evident with this doctrine and until Mill came onto the scene with Utilitarianism, which was published in 1863, this was the only way up until then, which people saw utilitarianism.

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J.S.Mill agreed with many concepts, which Bentham had, and wrote about this in his doctrine on Utilitarianism. However there were some specific ideas that Mill objected to. One of these ideas was the way in which Bentham believed that pleasure was the be all and end all of life, that you couldn’t feel anything better than physical pleasure. He was criticised by Mill for bringing in an indulging lifestyle due to the fact that the pleasures which Bentham was mentioning were described by many as “animal pleasures”, e.g. eating drinking, sex etc. Mill rejected this idea as he believed ...

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