Eric Smith
Phil 1130 9:00 AM
Personal Ethics Paper
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism as was read and talked about in class goes over the principle of utility and
the General Happiness Principle. You will see the view of John Stuart Mill on Utilitarianism and
how he explains what happiness is. You will also see the view of another philosopher Jeremy
Bentham and how his views are similar yet different than J.S. Mill.
Utilitarianism is one of many moral theories. Moral theories talk about what’s right and
wrong or good and bad. For utilitarianism right and wrong comes down to, “Actions are right in
proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of
happiness.i” At first glance you may think that your happiness is all that matters. If you see
something you want, go and take it and bring happiness to yourself. The truth is that J.S. Mills
goes on to explain, “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.ii” With this you have to
take into consideration everyone’s happiness, like you are equal to them. Not just happiness in
general, but as we discussed in class about the principle of utility, “Act to maximize the most
amount of good for the most amount of people.iii” You will want to weigh the options and see
what will bring the greatest happiness to as many as you can. Another way of putting it is being
altruistic, caring only for others.
If we have this sense of what’s right, as what brings happiness, we need to know what
happiness is. “Mill defines happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain.iv” We can agree that
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when not in pain we are more likely to be happy. Many things come to mind when thinking
about pleasure. J.S. Mill states, “It is quite compatible with the principle of utility to recognize
the fact, that some kinds of pleasure are more desirable and more valuable than others.v” Most
people tend not to look beyond the surface of things, pleasure is pleasure. However, it seems
that if you look more closely you would agree with J.S. Mill. “Few human creatures would
consent to be changed into any of the lower animals, for a promise of the fullest allowance of a
beast’s pleasures.vi” True there are more desirable pleasures people would have rather than
any amount of the lower pleasures. One of J.S. Mill’s famous quotes are, “It is better to be a
human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool
satisfied.vii” So even if you get higher or better quality pleasures every once in a while that
would be better than having the lower pleasures all the time.
Everyone is different, not everyone enjoys the same kinds of things. A pleasure to one
may not be a pleasure to someone else. J.S. Mill says, “What means are there of determining
which is the acutest of two pains, or the intensest of two pleasurable sensations, except the
general suffrage of those who are familiar with both?viii” It seems like one of the best ways to
find out some of the best pleasures is to have people voice their opinion. As people voice their
opinion, you can get an idea of the general likes of the people. Again stating J.S. Mill, “As
between his own happiness and that of others, utilitarianism requires him to be strictly
impartial as a disinterested and benevolent spectator.ix” Affirming what was stated earlier that
everyone is equal, no one person’s happiness is above that of another’s. It is all about the
whole of all those involved.
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Jeremy Bentham was an earlier philosopher of utilitarianism. He thinks, “Actions are
approved when they are such as to promote happiness, or pleasure, and disapproved of when
they have a tendency to cause unhappiness, or pain.x” The two philosophers shared their idea
on what was considered good and bad. It seemed that they both knew that bringing happiness
was to all sentient beings as Jeremy Bentham was one of the first to fight for animals rights. J.S.
Mill states, “Secured to all mankind; and not to them only, but, so far as the nature of things
admits, to the whole sentient creation…xi”
Even though they both thought the most amount of good or pleasure for the most
amount of people they had different views on pleasure. We saw that J.S. Mill had a sense of
higher and lower pleasures. Pleasures that dealt with quality outweighing quantity, regardless
of how much. Jeremy Bentham on the other hand, “treats all forms of happiness as equal.xii”
With his famous quote, “Quantity of pleasure being equal, push-pin is as good as poetry.xiii”
Jeremy Bentham is all about how much the pleasure gives you, the quantity not the quality. He
came up with the Felicific Calculus, “an algorithm formulated by utilitarian philosopher Jeremy
Bentham for calculating the degree or amount of pleasure that a specific action is likely to
cause.xiv” The felicific calculus is, “divided into the categories of intensity, duration, certainty,
proximity, productiveness, purity, and extent.xv”
It seems that Jeremy Bentham’s theory would be the original theory and that J.S. Mill
made some changes to it. Leaning toward Mill’s theory, it seems that a better quality of
pleasure is enticing than any quantity of lower. In our day, (around 2006) a study was done that
showed more women were going to school than men. It said that the men were staying home
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and playing video games. This reminds me of what J.S. Mill said, “Men lose their high
aspirations as they lose their intellectual tastes, because they have not time or opportunity for
indulging them; and they addict themselves to inferior pleasures, not because they deliberately
prefer them, but because they are either the only ones to which they have access, or the only
ones which they are any longer capable of enjoying.xvi” Sure video games or just sitting around
and not accomplishing anything can have some pleasure to it, but in the end it’s empty. While
the girls go to school, though it’s hard work, they get a greater sense of pleasure from it.
Seeking the higher pleasures in life and sharing them with others would be far more fulfilling.
In class a lot of theories were discussed. At one point or another there seems to be
flaws with them all. There is no one theory to have all the answers of morality. A brief look at
utilitarianism has an appeal, most good most people. You try to help others out and act
altruistic but at what length do you go? Is it worth it like in the story of, “The ones who walk
away from Omelas” to have someone locked up? As you walk by, you think your life may not be
that bad. There may be a better way. We should still continue to seek out to make others happy
and in turn it may bring happiness to ourselves.
i
Vice & Virtue In Everyday Life pg211
Vice & Virtue In Everyday Life pg215
iii
In class discussion
iv
Vice & Virtue In Everyday Life pg211
v
Vice & Virtue In Everyday Life pg212
vi
Vice & Virtue In Everyday Life Pg213
vii
Vice & Virtue In Everyday Life pg213
viii
Vice & Virtue In Everyday Life pg214
ix
Vice & Virtue In Everyday Life pg215
x
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy- www.plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history
xi
Vice & Virtue In Everyday Life pg215
xii
Wikipedia-www.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill
xiii
Wikipedia-www.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill
xiv
Wikipedia-www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicific_calculus
ii
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xv
xvi
Wikipedia-www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Bentham
Vice & Virtue In Everyday Life pg214
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