Dana Smith PHIL135 CH. 2 CRITICAL READING QUESTIONS What does Mill mean by “happiness” and how is that relevant to utilitarianism? Mill defines happiness as the ultimate good pleasure. The relevance to utilitarianism is the actions right or wrong which maximize the greatest balance of happiness over unhappiness. How does Mill respond to critics who denigrate utilitarianism as “worthy of swine”? That utilitarianism place the superiority of mental over bodily pleasures
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Utilitarianism‚ yet another ethical theory between right or wrong. If everyone acted in an effort to promote the greatest good for the greater number of people our universe would exist with a utilitarian state of mind. Although‚ when one looks at this statement on the surface without further analyzing it‚ most would assume that existing in a universe where everyone seeks the happiness for the greatest amount of people that it would be greater one to live in. Although‚ surface wise we can make
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“The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula Le Guin stays aligned with the ideals of Utilitarianism as described by John Stuart Mill but disagrees with Peter Singer’s view of Utilitarianism. In Mill’s view‚ the happiness of the many outweighs the happiness of the few. This‚ known as the Greatest Happiness Principle‚ can be represented as a railroad‚ with a train coming to a fork in the road and a person has a choice to either let it hit five people or one person. Mill’s ideal for Utilitarianism
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The basic point of Mills’ argument is that happiness is a good and it is compared with pleasure or pain when it is attained or not. The fact that it is a good means that the people will place their own personal actions or virtue to attain happiness. It is their self-motivation that drives people to that end goal. People‚ in general‚ will find themselves finding ways to this goal by utilizing money or resources. Mill mentioned that money is a means of itself and the strongest moving force of human
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Utilitarianism is a standard ethical theory that claims the greatest moral action is the one that maximizes utility. This well-known consequentialist theory views that right or wrong depend on the consequences of an act and not the intentions or motives that produce the act .Ultimately‚ the purpose of the act should be one that maximizes utility and promotes a better world.For instance philosopher Bentham’s principle of utility is based on the idea that an action is right if it produces the greatest
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Utilitarianism is concerned only with the happiness of the community and not that of the individual. How far do you agree? Utilitarianism by definition is the greatest happiness for the greatest number‚ therefore a community of people would most likely gain priority over an individual. If a positive act were to benefit a family of people and the opposite act would benefit a single being‚ the positive one would be what Bentham would encourage as it would have the best results for a larger amount
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Peter Singer asserts that utilitarianism implies a moral obligation to be a vegetarian. Utilitarianism holds that the right actions‚ or what we ought to do‚ are those actions that are expected to produce the best overall consequences‚ provide maximum utility‚ happiness or pleasure and minimize pain and suffering. Utilitarians look at the probable consequences of choices and choose their actions based on whatever they believe will produce the most utility or pleasure. Singer claims that if one is
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The concepts of pleasure and happiness are integral pieces of the human experience‚ and have been discussed in depth by philosophies seeking to understand human behavior. What one defines as ‘pleasurable’ determines the very fabric of their existence; how people decide to live is based largely on what they enjoy. Consequently‚ traditions such as Shirttails form based upon the pleasures which communities deem valuable. In Utilitarianism‚ John Stuart Mill argues for the existence of ‘higher’ and
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English philosopher‚ John Stuart Mill’s‚ introduced the ethical views of Utilitarianism‚ stating that whatever maximizes happiness for the greatest number of people is consider to be the greatest good. According to Utilitarianism‚ an action is morally right if it promotes happiness and morally wrong if it promotes pain. Utilitarianism is an attempt to answer the question “What should we do?” and its answer is that we ought to act in a way that the consequence produce happiness. What I think Utilitarianism
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Utilitarianism is a prominent theory‚ which is defined as an action that is considered to encourage happiness and pleasure within a social context‚ and if it fails‚ then it tends to promote harm to the environment. However‚ John Mills disagrees with this definition and instead he believes that everyone’s happiness is intrinsically good for them. This‚ in brief‚ is the argument from Mills. The following shall be an examination of his theory. I will then examine defences to his opinion as presented
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