Utilitarianism - From Bentham to Mill

A detailed Summary of Utilitarianism - From Bentham to Mill

Utilitarianism - From Bentham to Mill

In the realm of ethics, it is often that great thinkers look within the mind, body, and soul of the individual in order to discover the truths to a more perfect world. In doing so, philosophers seek to uncover the best way for one to live his or her life as a separate being, often neglecting the significance of the society as a whole. Due to the obvious fact that humans live among each other (and depend upon their fellow beings), should such thinkers not focus on the larger picture - the world we share? Or ways in which the people of the earth may live happier and more successful lives as a community? The philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill believed in such principles, forever fighting to attain equality for all who breathed life and striving to reform a society that impaired and exploited many, most of whom were the lower-class workers. While Bentham formed the foundation of utilitarianism thought to combat such injustice, Mill certainly left his own mark on this revolutionary way of thinking.

Jeremy Bentham lived during the time of 1748 to 1832, a period in which poverty and inequality was prevalent as a r

Utilitarianism also preaches the importance of maximizing pleasure for society's majority, neglecting the magnitude of personal responsibility of determining whether or not an action is right or wrong. For example, if the greatest number of people in a community decided that the killing off of a particular minority would increase their successfulness in the job force, what original utilitarian thought would prevent such an occurrence? Would it not be asking a person to ignore their conscience, which in most cases is telling he or she that killing is wrong? John Stuart Mill "prevents" such actions with his "no harm" clause, but is this realistic of the human condition? Further more, the minority could still be oppressed on a smaller scale. For instance, if one must always commit each action in order to benefit the majority, isn't the minority still losing out? What happens if this minority is left out consistently?

Although Jeremy Bentham died in the year of 1832, many of his ideas remained alive and well in mind and soul of his godson, John Stuart Mill. Due to the fact that Bentham had a major role in John's upbringing, it is not surprising that Mill would eventually make his own contribution to utilitarian thought. While growing up in a very strict and intellectually gifted family, John Stuart did not associate with children his own age until the age of fourteen, and was instead encircled by his father's utilitarian counterparts. At the age of twenty, Mill suffered from an emotional breakdown, enduring a two-year long battle with depression, which perhaps lead to his re-examination of the utilitarian structure.

But despite John Stuart's love and respect for Bentham, Mill did not agree with many of his godfather's ideas. While Jeremy Bentham was a great advocate of equality (most likely due to the immense inequality he witnessed in his life), Mill disagreed with the assertion that all pleasures are equal. According to Bentham, "the happiness of any one individual is no more or less important than that of another," but instead, what is important "... is the quantity of pleasure, not the quality of pleasure." (p.283) As I explained prior, Bentham is trying to explain that the pleasure of skipping rocks is no different than that of making love to a beautiful woman (assuming the individual is attracted to women). Bentham is willing to go even further, stating, "the pleasures of a pig should count no more or less of those of a human." (p. 283) Mill, on the other hand, believed that some pleasures are simply more gratifying than others. While arguing that human like is qualitatively superior to the lives of no

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Approximate Word count = 1790
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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