John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism, Pleasure, And Justice
Utilitarianism, pleasure (high and low), justice are the keywords that need addressing on so as to understand what Mill’s ideology is like. In this paper I will attempt to establish a link between these key terms, which are utilitarianism, pleasure, and justice through which one can get a better understanding of Mill’s theory.
In the very first line of chapter two, Mills tried to differentiate between utilitarianism and pleasure, “A PASSING remark is all that needs be given to the ignorant blunder of supposing that those who stand up for utility as the test of right and wrong, use the term in that restricted and merely colloquial sense in which utility is opposed to pleasure”(John Stuart Mill, 1863, chapter 2, page 1). It clearly shows that …show more content…
“A being of higher faculties requires more to make him happy, is capable probably of more acute suffering, and certainly accessible to it at more points, than one of an inferior type; but in spite of these liabilities, he can never really wish to sink into what he feels to be a lower grade of existence.” (John Stuart Mill, 1863, chapter 2, page 3). Mill outlines the higher pleasure as something that is achieved when one forgoes a pleasure and goes with another even though it has suffering and liabilities. Moreover Mill takes into consideration a case where one might temporarily sacrifice or forgo higher pleasure when intoxicated with “temptation” and pursue lower pleasures, “It may be objected, that many who are capable of the higher pleasures, occasionally, under the influence of temptation, postpone them to the lower.” (John Stuart Mill, 1863, chapter 2, page 3). I support this claim because this is what happens in real life when people settle for less where they can achieve more. I feel that utility is not just dependent on two kinds of pleasure and the happiness principle rather it depends on various factors that one experiences in real life however I also don’t find it necessary that even the most learned scholar would make the right decision given the experience one
In the very first line of chapter two, Mills tried to differentiate between utilitarianism and pleasure, “A PASSING remark is all that needs be given to the ignorant blunder of supposing that those who stand up for utility as the test of right and wrong, use the term in that restricted and merely colloquial sense in which utility is opposed to pleasure”(John Stuart Mill, 1863, chapter 2, page 1). It clearly shows that …show more content…
“A being of higher faculties requires more to make him happy, is capable probably of more acute suffering, and certainly accessible to it at more points, than one of an inferior type; but in spite of these liabilities, he can never really wish to sink into what he feels to be a lower grade of existence.” (John Stuart Mill, 1863, chapter 2, page 3). Mill outlines the higher pleasure as something that is achieved when one forgoes a pleasure and goes with another even though it has suffering and liabilities. Moreover Mill takes into consideration a case where one might temporarily sacrifice or forgo higher pleasure when intoxicated with “temptation” and pursue lower pleasures, “It may be objected, that many who are capable of the higher pleasures, occasionally, under the influence of temptation, postpone them to the lower.” (John Stuart Mill, 1863, chapter 2, page 3). I support this claim because this is what happens in real life when people settle for less where they can achieve more. I feel that utility is not just dependent on two kinds of pleasure and the happiness principle rather it depends on various factors that one experiences in real life however I also don’t find it necessary that even the most learned scholar would make the right decision given the experience one