Ebook93 pages5 hours
Utilitarianism
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this ebook
Mill's Utilitarianism is one of the most important, controversial, and suggestive works of moral philosophy ever written. Mill defends the view that all human action should produce the greatest happiness overall, and that happiness itself is to be understood as consisting in "higher" and "lower" pleasures.
Related to Utilitarianism
Related ebooks
The Kantian Ethics: Metaphysics of Morals: Philosophy of Law & The Doctrine of Virtue; Perpetual Peace; The Critique of Practical Reason Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsApplied Ethics: The Philosophy of Right and Wrong Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Utilitarianism Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Greatest Happiness Principle - Utilitarianism, On Liberty & The Subjection of Women: The Principle of the Greatest-Happiness: What Is Utilitarianism (Proofs & Principles), Civil & Social Liberty, Liberty of Thought, Individuality & Individual Freedom, Utilitarian Feminism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEthics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Foundations of Ethics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNotes on Philosophy Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5An Introduction to Philosophy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhilosophy and Its Public Role Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLogic, Inductive and Deductive Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Moral Principles and Political Obligations Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Immanuel Kant: A Guide to Transcendental Idealism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Peter Singer's Practical Ethics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPragmatism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Critique of Judgment: Theory of the Aesthetic Judgment and Theory of the Teleological Judgment: Critique of the Power of Judgment from the Author of Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals & Dreams of a Spirit-Seer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMorality Defined Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHobbes and the Law of Nature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMichael Oakeshott's Skepticism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJustice: A Beginner's Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMoral Philosophy: Ethics, Deontology and Natural Law Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Critique of Pure Reason Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Methods of Ethics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLogic and Decision Making Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Liberty & Utilitarianism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Philosophy For You
Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Course in Miracles: Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar...: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Be Here Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Experiencing God (2021 Edition): Knowing and Doing the Will of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Questions for Deep Thinkers: 200+ of the Most Challenging Questions You (Probably) Never Thought to Ask Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Metaphors We Live By Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bhagavad Gita (in English): The Authentic English Translation for Accurate and Unbiased Understanding Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History of Western Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Utilitarianism
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
6 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not my favorite of Mill's writings, but this one is definitely a bit more complex than the excerpts in textbooks would suggest. It is not a long read, and if not entertaining, it is at least well enough written to be readable without too much tedium. Mill does tend to repeat himself a lot, as do a lot of authors from his time, but it is interesting to see what ideas he promotes besides the notion of utilitarianism in this document.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The trouble with Mill is that you if read a few of his then-contemporary critics, and then you think you have his measure with all your modern day access to knowledge, but all along he was throwing "mind grenades" set on "delay" and they sit in your head while you go on thinking you are rather smart. So Mill mentions the Stoics and how virtue is only a means to happiness and that there are other things, too. He mentions the Sophists and how Socrates (allegedly) challenged their ancient equivalent of what is happening in higher education today. But in mentioning the development of utilitarianism from Epicurus to Bentham (and unfortunately I have not read Bentham cover-to-cover as I will do in the future), so just when I think to myself: "Mill, you really are 'drawing a long bow here' [a favourite saying of one of my favourite professors]", the mind grenade goes off and my hubris is dashed and I am glad I didn't say it out loud but there you have it - it was certainly there. There is no mention of Aristotle and the "golden mean" and how achieving a mean across the spectrum of virtues achieves happiness, but, as Mill says, there are many things that amount to happiness in addition to leading a virtuous life, so bringing up Aristotle doesn't make a good deal of sense. One interesting aspect of the essay is the long note in the last few pages where Mill extends a good deal of courtesy to Herbert Spencer, someone I have read more about in Jack London's Martin Eden than I ever did in all the other secondary sources I have read put together. While Mill does not quite agree with Spencer, Spencer claims (according to Mill) that he was never against the doctrine of utilitarianism. So the Greatest Happiness Principle it is but if we do not also take into account Mill's ideas of liberty (in On Liberty), then the present-day situation where we are told what to like and what will make us happy and many of us go along with that and eat our smashed avocado, living in our high density housing, and paying for cups of coffee that we could make at home for a fraction of the price, which are not only much better, but we could also be happier because we were actually doing something for ourselves, while, as Tolstoy or even my mother would say, "in reality", we are succumbing to the biggest scam ever and then wondering why we are not happy at all. And J.S. Mill says all this in just under 122 pages of thick paper dating from 1895, which is nice, but with each cover-to-cover completion of classic works I edge ever-closer to the abyss of what I don't know and it scares me.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Okay, I'm not sure what to say about this. It's like milk; it's good for you, but can leave you bloated and gassy and the cover is totally uninspiring. Most of the writing is equally uninspiring. I recommend 2 minutes of Utilitarianism followed by 20 minutes of Googling gossipy facts about Mill.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mill's inspired attempt to rescue, revive, & update Bentham's raw Enlightenment utilitarianism. As fundamental to modern ethics as On Liberty is to modern political thought, Utilitarianism surely is a more controversial & flawed text. Notably, Mill's attempt to found "higher" vs "lower" forms of pleasure philosophically, essential to his entire project, is not just unconvincing; its thinness is conspicuously at odds with the robustness built into so much of his other work.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dense at some points, but an interesting read that's a perfect primer on the foundations of utilitarianism. If you're at all interested in the topics considered, particularly intersections of ideas of justice with utilitarian principles, I recommend this. Mill also gives an interesting look at perceptions and basis of the idea of "justice" that might be of interest to readers who aren't directly interested the utilitarian philosophy.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Okay, so in one way Utilitarianism is the manifesto, the ludicrous 19th-century positivist lego castle where Mill tries - as-fucking-if - to construct his expediency argument from first principles, and On Liberty is where he gets real with you, like "but of course in the actual non-theoretical world it's more like-a this. Minority rights." But on the other hand, there's this: "The truths which are ultimately accepted as the first principles of a science, are really the last results of metaphysical analysis, practised on the elementary notions with which the science is conversant; and their relation to the science is not that of foundations to an edifice, but of roots to a tree, which may perform their office equally well though they be never dug down to and exposed to light."Oooooooooh. What an amazingly utilitarian approach to theory and the foundations of knowledge in your utilitarianism book, John. This essay puts its own discomfort with isms aside in the name of a systematic sanity that's probably the only kind that had a chance of going over with Mill's Victorian peers. It sure as shit isn't the last word in morals that it postures at being, but hey, man: Do something that leads to an increase of pleasure and a decrease of pain in your world today. You won't be sorry. Hug a seal.
Book preview
Utilitarianism - John Stuart Mills
.a book_preview_excerpt.html uYˮ.`t
d l tszM^$KD_sB4GԩS5﮿.[ly->|m_-?^]rP\l\6vJS1;sjL]3krمbF_|&^̵.6'w2K5gb?]ڛ3gqn(n4{2A.15r=3vy6KVϾWռŎrn={;8_%_\jk<ن'=ezsq>N<
W.~lRs.tI}~k`Ka=JpŻqN;X8-go VGa_xYLϟ壿QM<\cp)=h2̴様bEHlvY";Dw8=?M>53YCL
dqv9m'Mgi=m,fi0+#sj/|lqmGj~CBd75q͏)f%1?"gqB3%KɁ5F[ ;9bz>&EH!IS%7l8V?Vo;$_I~N/p[C`Dhv`H
cHعHwa>Ub8KSpz* zPI?I82 5\<Ã
^G+Gc4aHE $HRO␣.KzA# -f4"чGKdnH ԒeZ=mǫ2ogsCn@0UyU`+"g? pőw2#.9Y["+RRnZ
QtI<YM2YdI$ Qۛԣ9=>ÄBNA\Kpb0{fʮd.VcDk`;^dމ|_1}e& ?NΦ ]7_L#|UťӵZ p]r{'FU96V-ǩ7)v(i(guhgj2$Z'ڤ!2ȤؔҪۀ$OYB(_]4n>IϬR"I$#=jukP%|8I8f^״iyTTC;3:hx0;*͵
=al]J~V|'bt6MT60Mޛ.))2OxpN^A6v*Qh-EI5\DQQ2SyAZCa,0;>mͥ]#i{ѵK28T/yֺe#b (4uݵWOʀAQb|yӸn׃'9P!{tiHEqD n!j}j.UaEop'C3%V;_0TUƜG# d/+縠ڥ xf^$p1TqPG\m!xSd
Sв܇^9IiQ!:N=X7^ 2o-^.z`+٬Cr^he~_S!QU>P#ʹc>vA*Z6c!J닎J JM}Pb)E}Ȭ@{7ޭھSWc+4|؇{yLئeW,csyLxz}|22qsgR]fOΙ8I%udfH:KZ4uKQVIa{iTJ`HU]_Ç'6m)R,ّJ߇__gcJinʱhR]mESWajHZ"Yȹ-q߇ȇ|#76(v<+4lGߝrkT >7_ݼ2.鼛lEY9Y9j?fֱtԥmoZ+#lY>$#
Nm*W@BeF!̘q+^ Y3S/>J2ĜË
{U|
5z/_?0
$-d8\c_ma+?B*$'tX̕LWgt>wiyٸ{X_;,cSpq~":}89NodEC
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1