A summary of utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill

1. Utilitarianism
John Stuart Mill

2. Introduction
• Little progress has been made regarding morality in the course of human
existence
Conditions are the same now as they were back then despite our
‘advancement’
• At best, our moral faculty gives us only the general principles of morality
Is not a sense of knowing, but rather of reason (Ethics, a philosophy subfield)
Most major schools of Ethics agree that morality is a priori, not a posteriori
Cannot be deduced from personal experience
• Ethics is more of a statement of Ethics, rather than a guide to correct
ethics
Created based on what brings us happiness; the principle of utility, ‘the
greatest happiness principle,’ had a huge influence on the development of
Ethics
• Claims that most major schools of thought are deep-rooted in what makes
us happy

3. What is Utilitarianism
• Many people claim utilitarianism is simply about limitless pleasure
(Unrestricted Hedonism), or that it is limiting of pleasure
Is rather about “pleasure itself together with freedom from pain; and
instead of opposing the useful to the agreeable or the ornamental
they have always declared that ‘useful’ includes these among other
things.”
• Basis of morals is utility, where it is right if it promotes happiness,
and wrong if it takes away happiness
• Believes life has no higher aim than the collection of pleasure and
avoidance of pain for the greater good
Qualitative pleasure is important, and rather than pure hedonism,
utilitarianism (Which is similar) looks towards the greatest amount of
pleasure for society as a whole

4. Higher and Lower Pleasures
• Humans have higher faculties than animals and thus
require greater, more complex pleasures to be satisfied
• Pleasures of the imagination, feelings, intellect, and moral
sentiments are greater for humans than sensations
Permanent, safer, less costly
• Quantity and Quality are both needed for evaluating
pleasures
• It is better to be a wise man dissatisfied than a fool satisfied
• People have a tendency to choose the easier good over the
more valuable good

5. Happiness as an Aim
• Even if true happiness is unattainable, utilitarianism is useful
It is not only about getting pleasure, but avoiding pain
If true happiness isn’t possible, there is more need for the second
point
• Happiness is not a constant state of unending bliss, but rather a fleeting
feeling
Philosophers define happiness as an active life involving pains, some
moments of morality, various pleasures, and not expecting more from life
than can be provided
Happiness is NOT the aim
In order to be satisfactory, a life must have excitement and
tranquility
Excitement can tolerate pain, tranquility needs little
pleasure
A healthy life should have tranquility and
excitement in cycles, one following the other

6. Happiness as an Aim
• Next to selfishness, the thing that makes life most
unsatisfactory is lack of mental cultivation
This cultivation feeds into interests
• A life will be considered enviable without bad laws
restraining him and with freedom from the evils of life
such as poverty
He believes these ills can be conquered by humanity
(Which I disagree with)
• People who sacrifice themselves for the greater good
Don’t do it for happiness, but rather for virtue, which is
greater than happiness

7. Self-Sacrifice
• The highest virtue is sacrificing your happiness for
others
• Paradoxically, the best way to achieve happiness is
going without it, because it allows the consciousness to
rise above being subdued to fate
Develop sources of satisfaction available to him
• Golden rule of utilitarianism morality: do as you would
be done by, and to love your neighbor as yourself
• Utilitarianism is more concerned with happiness of the
whole than of the individual

8. Standard of Morality
• Motive has nothing to do with the morality of
an action
Does have to do with worth of the agent
• Concerned with acts of happiness for
individuals, not all of society
Doing small things for other people is more
realistic than changing the laws of a nation

9. Why should we be Utilitarian
• Same rewards as any other system of morals
Avoiding displeasure and gaining pleasure
Conscientiousness of mankind
• Believes that with morality based on consciousness, inside
the mind, it is easier to silence and ignore
Utilitarianism has morality based on happiness and duty,
outside the mind (Disagree with idea of duty personally
however)
Moral faculty, if not innate, is argued to be a natural part of
our development
However, can be cultivated in any direction
Utilitarianism has no natural basis in our feelings

10. Proof of the Use of Utilitarianism
• Questions about ends are questions about what is desirable
Happiness is the only desirable end; all other desirables are desirable as a
means to happiness
• “The only proof capable of being given that an object is visible is that
people actually see it. The only proof that a sound is audible is that people
hear it; and similarly with the other sources of our experience” --- False
• Happiness is a means in and of itself, and isn’t just a means to an end but
a part of it as well
Things such as virtue can become a part of happiness
Things such as money and power aren’t desired as an end, but as a means to
an end
By making it an end, the failure to obtain it brings pain
A utilitarian can desire other means, but cannot desire anything
besides happiness as an end (You cannot become dependent on money or
fame for happiness, because these issues make good servants, bad masters

11. Proof of the Use of Utilitarianism
• Will is different than desire
Instead of willing something because we desire
it, we desire it because we will it
Evokes power of habit
We can form a habit from something
we no longer desire

12. Justice and Utility
• Justice
Believed to be dictated by some natural order or authority
Says just because nature demands something doesn’t
mean it’s always prudent to follow
• What quality makes something unjust?
Comes to the conclusion something is unjust if it is unequal,
unless it is more convenient to be unequal
Justice seems to be easily manipulated
Etymology of justice comes from the word law
Justice seemed to mean conformity to the law
at first
Justice now seems to be associated with what
ought to be law

13. Justice and Utility
• Acts of Perfect Obligation
Acts that we are obligated to perform
• Acts of imperfect Obligation
Acts we are not obligated to perform, but ought to perform
• The line between Morality and Justice, according to John Mill, is to be
drawn between whether or not our rights as humans are involved
• The idea of justice is rooted in a rule of conduct and proper punishments
Must be someone to punish and someone who was harmed
Justice must be rooted in harm to society, not to the individual
Calls upon self-defense and resentment to establish punishment
• Justice cannot be an independent utility, or one rooted in the mind
independent of anything else, because it is so easily modified by
perception

14. Is Justice a Fantasy
• Based on rule of not harming another
Taking into account people’s rights
• Justice must be impartial to be just
• Utility presupposes that everyone has an
equal right for happiness
• Justice, administered properly, can coexist
with utilitarianism