Utilitarianism Mill Essay Research Paper In Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism Mill Essay, Research Paper

In Utilitarianism, J.S. Mill was trying to show that “actions and institutions should increase the overall amount of happiness in the world” , and stressed the importance of utilitarianism as the first principle in ethics, to which any ambiguities with second principles such as ‘do not kill’ may appeal. In this discussion, it is first of all necessary to examine what Mill meant by each of these statements in isolation, before going on to explore how he attempts to reconcile these two statements. We need to examine, therefore, exactly what Mill meant by ‘pleasure and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends’

Utilitarianism can be summed up by a very short phrase from Joseph Priestly’s Essay on Government, “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”. However, it is important to note that although this maybe a concise summary, it remains that it is merely a summary, and perhaps obscures the particular features of Mill’s Utilitarianism. Mill himself summarises his version of utilitarianism as “pleasure and freedom from pain’ are the only things desirable as ends”. However, this begs the question of what exactly did Mill mean by ‘pleasure’ and by ‘freedom from pain’. Mill believes, as did Bentham, that pain is the opposite of pleasure, and as such, an increase in pain means a decrease in aggregate pleasure for the individual. Furthermore, such pleasure or pain may be quantified according to intensity and duration, so that all other things being equal, a pleasure of greater intensity or longer duration is preferable to smaller intensity or shorter duration. However, on the actual definition of what constitutes pleasure, Bentham and Mill differed greatly.

Bentham believed that any pleasure could be quantified according to intensity and duration, and although intellectual pursuits were ‘better’ in that they produced more pleasure, this was entirely due to the fact that they were of greater intensity. In this way, in the Haydn and oyster though experiment, Bentham would choose the life of the oyster since however much more intense the pleasures of Haydn are, the oyster would receive infinite sensual pleasure due to the infinite life-span. In this way, total utility would be greater than that of Haydn. However, Mill would have disagreed as he would have argued that there is not merely a difference in intensity and duration, there is an insurmountable difference in quality, so that “it is absurd that… the estimations of pleasures should be supposed to depend on quantity alone.” Mill, therefore, would opt for Haydn’s life with almost no need for consideration since the pleasures of Haydn were insurmountably superior than the ‘base’ sensual pleasure of the oyster. In fact, as we can see from the above quotation, the choice would be almost self-evident for Mill. In this way, the pleasures that Mill describes differ, not only in quantity, with regard to intensity and duration, but also in quality, which may be so different that a person would prefer a tiny amount of one pleasure rather than any amount of another. Similarly, Mill’s views on freedom from pain would most likely take the same route, so that someone might prefer a life-time of physical pain as opposed to a single act of mental anguish. Such reflection as to what constitutes a quality difference leads naturally to the idea behind the phrase ‘Better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied’, so perhaps it might be prudent to first of all discuss what Mill meant by such an assertion.

“we are justified in ascribing to the preferred enjoyment a superiority in quality so far out-weighing quantity ass to render it, in comparison, of small account”. For Mill, therefore, certain pleasures are so great that any amount of lesser pleasures will not make up for any loss in the former. These certain pleasures include pleasures of the intellect as opposed to purely sensual pleasures, and so by suggesting that he would prefer to be Socrates dissatisfied, rather than a fool satisfied, Mill is saying that the pleasures Socrates receives are greater than those that the fool receives even though the fool is satisfied. This highlights the main objection which may be levelled at the consistency of the two phrases; satisfaction.

At first sight, these two phrases appear inconsistent since how, if pleasure is the ultimate goal, can someone prefer to be unsatisfied than satisfied. the answer lies simply in the definition of satisfaction. As Mill himself states “it is indisputable that the being whose capacities of enjoyment are low has the greatest chance of them being satisfied”. The point that Mill is trying to make is that maximum pleasure is not synonymous with satisfaction. In this way, the fool knows of very little pleasure. This he gains from his senses, and believing these to be the only pleasures in the world, he is satisfied. However, Socrates is aware of all manners of different pleasures, only some of which he is party to. However, Socrates does indulge in some intellectual, emotional and such pleasures, which as we have seen are insurmountably greater than those of a fool. In this way, although Socrates is not satisfied, he does receive considerably more pleasure, in absolute terms, than does the fool. The argument can be restated thus, if both Socrates and the fool were to receive the amount of pleasure just to satisfy the fool, then Socrat