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Utilitarianism In John Stuart Mill (a Critical Appraisal)
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Utilitarianism
most generally is described as the doctrine, which states that “the
rightness or wrongness of an action is determined, by the goodness and
badness of their consequence. It may be put forward either as a system
of normative ethics (i.e. proposal about how we ought to think about
conduct) or as a system of descriptive ethics (i.e. an analysis of how
we do think about conduct).
According to The Concise Routledge
Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, utilitarianism is a theory about rightness
according to which the only good thing is welfare. For a utilitarian,
morality is convertible with utility. As such utilitarianism could be
defined as an ethical theory, which holds that morality of an act
consists essentially of its utility as means for attainment of happiness
of man, which in most cases is considered temporal. Utilitarianism is
an ethical theory based on the principle of utility i.e. the principle
of the greatest good or happiness. Utility is viewed therefore as the
true standard of morality and most reliable measurement for
distinguishing good actions from bad actions hence, the yardstick with
which good actions are distinguished from bad actions. It implies
therefore, that those actions, which produce or tend to produce
pleasure, are good while those that tend to produce pain are bad.
Utilitarianism
implied superiority to frivolity and the mere pleasure of the moment.
Of two pleasures, if there is one pleasure (action) to which almost all
who have experience of both give a decided preference, irrespective of
any feeling of moral obligation, it is regarded as the more desirable
pleasure. In his book, Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill gave his own
notion of the term:
The creed which accepts as the foundation of
morals, 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. By happiness, is intended pleasure and
absence of pain; while unhappiness (refers to) pain and privation of
pleasure.
The Greatest Happiness principle explains the ultimate end
of man as an existence exempt as far as possible from pain and as rich
as possible in enjoyment both in quality and quantity. In respect to and
for the sake of all desirable things. Besides, the theory of life on
which this moral theory is grounded is that, pleasure and freedom from
pain are the only thing desirable as ends and, that all desirable things
are desirable either for the pleasure inherent in themselves or as
means to the promotion of pleasure and the prevention of pain.
The
happiness (pleasure) with which utilitarianism is concerned is not that
of egoism. Mill emphasized this point saying that the happiness which
forms the Utilitarian standard of what is right in conduct is not the
agent’s
own happiness but that of all concerned; as between an
individual’s own happiness and that of others, utilitarianism requires
him to be strictly impartial as a disinterested and benevolent
spectator. He maintained therefore that:
For that standard is not the
agent’s own greatest happiness but the greatest amount of happiness
altogether; and if it may possibly be doubted whether a noble character
is always the happier for its nobleness, there can be no doubt that it
makes other people happier and that the worlds in general is immensely a
gainer by it.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 6]
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