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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page paper which discusses the implications of John Stuart Mill's assertion in Utilitarianism that, 'Pleasure and freedom from pain are the only things desirable as ends.' Specifically considered are the principles Mill developed in Chapters 2 and 4 which make this idea plausible and critically evaluations whether his arguments are successful. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_TGjsmutil.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
While Bentham is acknowledged as the philosophys founder, it was Mill who further qualified it through logic (Titus and Smith 124). He maintained that because human beings are imbued
with a thought capacity, they are not merely satisfied with pleasures of the flesh. They aspire to achieve pleasure of the mind as well. Once man has ascended
to this highest intellectual level, he desires to stay there, never descending to the lowly level of existence from which he began (Titus and Smith 124). In Chapter
2 of his classic 1863 treatise, Utilitarianism, Mill unequivocally asserted that, "Pleasure and freedom are the only things desirable as ends" (6). Before posing his argument, Mill first needed
to define the topic: "The creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, Utility, 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 the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure"
(5-6). Then, like a true philosopher, Mill proposes objections to the utilitarian principle, which he then attempts to refute. Pleasure, according to Mill, has often rather condescendingly been
regarded as being little more than attempting to keep a pig satisfied. Because man has the intellectual capacity for reason, he should aspire for something more. Mill argues
that is exactly what man does. He does not merely endeavor to seek momentary pleasure, but in utilitarianism, has the option to choose that which affords him with the
most pleasure. According to Mill, "Of two pleasures, if there be one to which all or almost all who have experience of both give a decided preference, irrespective of
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