John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism Theory

Austin Carlson
4/16/16
PHL 212
Ethics Final Paper
I’m doing my final paper on John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism theory. The source I’m using is Mill, John Stuart Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary issues, edited by Steven M. Cahn and Peter Markie 362-396. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. Thesis: I will show how the greatest happiness principle (GHP) should have greater nuance so it won’t remove happiness from others in order to create more happiness. I’m taking two quotes out of the book on utilitarianism perspectives, and on the greatest happiness principle. “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
Since the population has more poor than rich in the town, I would argue to redistribute the wealth, because there is more poor people than rich people. That would create the happiness for the greater good. While doing that would create long term happiness, because if the poor people are able to get a good education for themselves, they would be able to get a good job and support their family and not have to worry about having poor health and the lack of food, but doing so would take the happiness from the rich people and that is not the moral thing to do even though their happiness wouldn’t be as high, as if a poor person was able to experience that kind of
Getting money from the 100 rich to the 250 poor would be the right thing to do, because it would create a more long term happiness for the poor people. Although the way I think it should happen without taking happiness from the rich, is that the rich voluntarily give up their money through donations, charitable events, or any other way they seem fit. People will tend to even gain happiness from given. An example is when a school or business is going to shut down from the lack of supplies or money, and someone with a lot of money comes in and makes charitable donation it would make a lot of people happen even the donator. With the donation that school or business will be able to continue to run. Another example is at Christmas time, a lot of people say the best part of Christmas is that they would rather give present than receive presents them from others. It gives you a good feeling inside when a kid opens your present and they get all excited. Even though the rich have more money than they can spend it’s still not moral to take things from others, thus taking their happiness away just to create a more and greater