John Stuart Mill On Utilitarianism

Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism 2nd ed. Edited by George Sher. Indianapolis, IN:
Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2001.

INTRODUCTION It can be argued that no other philosophical system has so permeated Western thought as utilitarianism. From the early Greek thinkers like Epicures to post-Enlightenment writers such as Jeremy Bentham, the expediency of utilitarianism has been defended and expounded. Perhaps the most famous proponent of utility for modern times is John Stuart Mill. Mill first published his treatise on utilitarianism in three installments in Fraser's Magazine in 1861. Since then it has become part of the foundation of Western thought. Even Christianity has begun to adopt elements of Mill's philosophy into the Church's
Many critics have pointed out that man can do without happiness and that entire philosophies and religions have been built around self-denial. Mill answers this objection with the basic assertion that life without happiness is not worth living. He maintains that life without happiness leads to an unnatural state of despair, fatalism and even suicide. Again, Mill explains that happiness is not about pleasurable experiences but about attaining a state of well-being for one's self and one's neighbors. There is one danger inherent to Mill's theory. In order to explain what constitutes happiness, Mill must enlist a level of elitism. Only the intellectually enlightened can know what true happiness is, and this enlightenment is only achieved by experience. Mill is actually arguing for social modernity. This of course begs the question "how can one quantify happiness?" Although Mill does not directly answer the question, he does explain that precedence and common sense can and must be used for utilitarianism to
The most important one being the internal consistency of the ethic. By having only one obligation there is no conflict. One will never be in a bind as to what is the right thing to do. Unfortunately, Mill places his absolute on the selfish desires of sinful man instead of into the hands of a loving God. One could make the argument that Jesus was teaching a utilitarian ethic when he boiled the Law down to one commandment, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself." If the end of Christianity is to love God and do His Will, which is a thoroughly Biblical doctrine, then all off the supposed moral conflicts of life dissolve in light of this one