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John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism

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John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism
In the current age people, all over the word are indulging in their own personal pleasures. Some of which may be physical and others may involve more of a mental aspect. In 1861 philosopher John Stuart Mill published “Utilitarianism”, and in this piece Mill introduces his idea of higher and lower pleasure. He states that people require mental pleasure over physical pleasure. In his work, he defends his stance, but in the end his views are not justifiable. Pleasure is based off desire, and individuals can make distinctions on which pleasures are more desired than others without being related to a mental or physical perspective, and how we can decipher between what is physical and what is mental? A major flaw in Mills proposal is how do individuals distinguish between what is mental (higher) pleasure and what is physical (lower) pleasure? In Utilitarianism Mill assumes that higher pleasures are more intellectual and lower pleasures …show more content…
Should one go out and entertain or should one stay in and read a news article? These choices can be made off one’s desire, but are not always easily perforable one over another. Mill believes that when distinguishing between two pleasures you should ask someone who has lived or been through both pleasures to determine which one receives higher pleasure. This solution is too broad that it is unlikely to fit every scenario making it baseless towards Mills argument. Pleasures are different between each person and categorizing them is not realistic. To an artist drawling may achieve the highest intellectual pleasure, but if the artist is put in a place to choose between drawling and dancing and were to ask a dancer which is more beneficial, they will say dancing. Proving that different people benefit from different activities. Mill is trying to make his solution universal, but there are so many different possibilities that it cannot be used as a universal

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