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Utilitarianism

2010-10-31T13:47:23Z

Lisab: Created page with ''''Utilitarianism''' is a philosophical theory in the field of ethics which occurred at the beginning of the 19.th century in Great Britain. It concerns the question: ''What shou…'

'''Utilitarianism''' is a philosophical theory in the field of ethics which occurred at the beginning of the 19.th century in Great Britain. It concerns the question: ''What should I do?''. The utilitarian answer would be, that all your actions should be valued by the principle of the greatest happiness for the biggest amount of people. Hence this is an ethical theory which considers the consequences of an action. The oppositional theory is called deontology that values the action and its morality itself. The primary representative of the Utilitarianism are Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) as the founder and John Stuart Mill who extended and modified the theory.

==Jeremy Bentham==

Bentham describes the Utilitarianism as the principle of the biggest happiness or
pleasure for the greatest amount of people. The happiness is defined as pleasure and the exemption from pain, which should not be misunderstood as a life full of egoistic and reckless actions. On the contrary; everybody has the duty to take care of the others, of the community. Although there are some criteria established to decide what defines a good action such as content, duration, certainty, contiguousness and dimension, this is a radical individual theory that allows everyone to decide on their own what is good or pleasant for them and what not. You don’t have to decide for anyone else. So virtue can be defined as the most effective advancement of happiness, so that pleasure is increased and pain is reduced. So the only question of morality is the topic of the ability to suffer, there is no objective moral thought necessary.
==John Stuart Mill==

Mill, being educated from his early childhood in the terms of the utilitarian theory, also agrees to the principle of the greatest happiness, but there are some modifications in his works. First of all Mill disliked the fact that Bentham only considers the ''quantity'' of an action ignoring the ''quality''. Mill thinks that there are some actions or some consequences that are more preferable and useful than others. His argument therefore is the difference between human and animalistic pleasure. The person overmatches the simple animalistic fulfilment of drives with his ability to think, because he has not only reason but also emotion as well as imagination and a moral sense.
Another modification o the classic theory is that Mill postulates law to confirm utilitarian principles. These laws should harmonise individual and social interests as well as education and public opinion. This makes his form of the theory a little less individual compared to Bentham.

==Critique==

The critique which is uttered most frequently is that the Utilitarianism doesn’t follow any moral standards, that there aren’t any fix rules of behaviour, so that everything is allowed what causes happiness in any way. Furthermore in most of the cases it isn’t possible to foresee all the consequences that an action might have. Another critical point is that according to the utilitarian theory, you calculate with human destiny just like numbers in an account book.

==Sources==

Aßmann, Lothar, et al.’’Zugänge zur Philosophie’’.Berlin:Cornelsen,2004

Bentham, Jeremy, ‘’Deontologie oder die Wissenschaft der Moral’’.Trans.John Bonring.Leipzig:Allgemeine Niederländische Buchhandlung, 1997

Mill, John Stuart, Utilitarianism,''Der Utilitarismus''. Trans. Dieter Birnbacher. Stuttgart, Phillipp Reclam jun., 2008

John Stuart Mill

2010-10-31T13:41:53Z

Lisab:

'''John Stuart Mill''' ( 1806-1873) was a British philosopher, economist and political theorist. He was educated by his father James, who was a Scottish philosopher, historian and economist in terms of the philosophical theory of Jeremy Bentham, the Utilitarianism. This means, that Mill has this idea that all his actions should be valued by the principle of the greatest happiness for the biggest amount of people. His father planned to save this theory in the person of his son, so that it can not be forgotten after his and Bentham’s death. Therefore he didn’t allow any external influence on John Stuart, not even a religious. He started to teach him Greek an Latin when he was only four years old as well as differential calculus in the age of ten. Being twelve years old, John Stuart wrote his first book, with fifteen he even wrote a few newspaper articles, studied roman law and got involved with politics. In 1823 he founded the “Utilitarian society”. But all these intensive and early studies caused a nervous breakdown in the age of twenty. Mill himself explained that this suppressed any feelings that he might have developed normally in childhood. His depression became even worst when his father died in 1836 which caused severe criticism of the utilitarian theory.
Mill refused to study a the University of Oxford, because he didn’t want to submit to the Church of England, so he preferred to work for the East India Company until 1858. In 1851 he married Harried Taylor after her first husband has died. She has had a great influence on him, concerning women’s rights for example. She died 1858 because of a lung congestion. Mill worked as a Lord Rector of the University of St. Andrews from 1865 to 1868 and was at the same time a Member of the Parliament. There he stood for several social reforms, such as labour unions or farm cooperatives as well as women’s rights, for example the right to vote.
Important works of John Stuart Mill are “A System of Logic” (1843) in which he claims that a theory of economy has to be bound to empiricism and positivism, “Principles of Political Economy - with Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy” (1848) which was said to be the economic standard work of the second half of the 19.th century and at last his work “Utilitarianism” (1863) which was an extension and diversification of the utilitarian theory of Bentham.

== Sources ==
Gaulke, Jürgen.'' John Stuard Mill''. Reibeck bei Hamburg, Rowolth, 1996.

Mill, John Stuart,'' Utilitarianism, Der Utilitarismus''. Trans. Dieter Birnbacher. Stuttgart, Phillipp Reclam, jun., 2008

http://www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Mill,+John+Stuart/Biographie

John Stuart Mill

2010-10-31T12:00:41Z

Lisab:

'''John Stuart Mill''' ( 1806-1873) was a British philosopher, economist and political theorist. He was educated by his father James, who was a Scottish philosopher, historian and economist in terms of the philosophical theory of Jeremy Bentham, the Utilitarianism. This means, that Mill has this idea that all his actions should be valued by the principle of the greatest happiness for the biggest amount of people. His father planned to save this theory in the person of his son, so that it can not be forgotten after his and Bentham’s death. Therefore he didn’t allow any external influence on John Stuart, not even a religious. He started to teach him Greek an Latin when he was only four years old as well as differential calculus in the age of ten. Being twelve years old, John Stuart wrote his first book, with fifteen he even wrote a few newspaper articles, studied roman law and got involved with politics. In 1823 he founded the “Utilitarian society”. But all these intensive and early studies caused a nervous breakdown in the age of twenty. Mill himself explained that this suppressed any feelings that he might have developed normally in childhood. His depression became even worst when his father died in 1836 which caused severe criticism of the utilitarian theory.
Mill refused to study a the University of Oxford, because he didn’t want to submit to the Church of England, so he preferred to work for the East India Company until 1858. In 1851 he married Harried Taylor after her first husband has died. She has had a great influence on him, concerning women’s rights for example. She died 1858 because of a lung congestion. Mill worked as a Lord Rector of the University of St. Andrews from 1865 to 1868 and was at the same time a Member of the Parliament. There he stood for several social reforms, such as labour unions or farm cooperatives as well as women’s rights, for example the right to vote.
Important works of John Stuart Mill are “A System of Logic” (1843) in which he claims that a theory of economy has to be bound to empiricism and positivism, “Principles of Political Economy - with Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy” (1848) which was said to be the economic standard work of the second half of the 19.th century and at last his work “Utilitarianism” (1863) which was an extension and diversification of the utilitarian theory of Bentham.

== Sources ==
Gaulke, Jürgen. John Stuard Mill. Reibeck bei Hamburg, Rowolth, 1996.

Mill, John Stuart, Utilitarianism, Der Utilitarismus. Trans. Dieter Birnbacher. Stuttgart, Phillipp Reclam, jun., 2008

http://www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Mill,+John+Stuart/Biographie

John Stuart Mill

2010-10-31T11:59:19Z

Lisab:

== John Stuart Mill ==
'''John Stuart Mill''' ( 1806-1873) was a British philosopher, economist and political theorist. He was educated by his father James, who was a Scottish philosopher, historian and economist in terms of the philosophical theory of Jeremy Bentham, the Utilitarianism. This means, that Mill has this idea that all his actions should be valued by the principle of the greatest happiness for the biggest amount of people. His father planned to save this theory in the person of his son, so that it can not be forgotten after his and Bentham’s death. Therefore he didn’t allow any external influence on John Stuart, not even a religious. He started to teach him Greek an Latin when he was only four years old as well as differential calculus in the age of ten. Being twelve years old, John Stuart wrote his first book, with fifteen he even wrote a few newspaper articles, studied roman law and got involved with politics. In 1823 he founded the “Utilitarian society”. But all these intensive and early studies caused a nervous breakdown in the age of twenty. Mill himself explained that this suppressed any feelings that he might have developed normally in childhood. His depression became even worst when his father died in 1836 which caused severe criticism of the utilitarian theory.
Mill refused to study a the University of Oxford, because he didn’t want to submit to the Church of England, so he preferred to work for the East India Company until 1858. In 1851 he married Harried Taylor after her first husband has died. She has had a great influence on him, concerning women’s rights for example. She died 1858 because of a lung congestion. Mill worked as a Lord Rector of the University of St. Andrews from 1865 to 1868 and was at the same time a Member of the Parliament. There he stood for several social reforms, such as labour unions or farm cooperatives as well as women’s rights, for example the right to vote.
Important works of John Stuart Mill are “A System of Logic” (1843) in which he claims that a theory of economy has to be bound to empiricism and positivism, “Principles of Political Economy - with Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy” (1848) which was said to be the economic standard work of the second half of the 19.th century and at last his work “Utilitarianism” (1863) which was an extension and diversification of the utilitarian theory of Bentham.

== Sources ==
Gaulke, Jürgen. John Stuard Mill. Reibeck bei Hamburg, Rowolth, 1996.

Mill, John Stuart, Utilitarianism, Der Utilitarismus. Trans. Dieter Birnbacher. Stuttgart, Phillipp Reclam, jun., 2008

http://www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Mill,+John+Stuart/Biographie

John Stuart Mill

2010-10-31T11:58:55Z

Lisab: Created page with '== John Stuart Mill == '''John Stuart Mill''' ( 1806-1873) was a British philosopher, economist and political theorist. He was educated by his father James, who was a Scottish ph…'

== John Stuart Mill ==
'''John Stuart Mill''' ( 1806-1873) was a British philosopher, economist and political theorist. He was educated by his father James, who was a Scottish philosopher, historian and economist in terms of the philosophical theory of Jeremy Bentham, the Utilitarianism. This means, that Mill has this idea that all his actions should be valued by the principle of the greatest happiness for the biggest amount of people. His father planned to save this theory in the person of his son, so that it can not be forgotten after his and Bentham’s death. Therefore he didn’t allow any external influence on John Stuart, not even a religious. He started to teach him Greek an Latin when he was only four years old as well as differential calculus in the age of ten. Being twelve years old, John Stuart wrote his first book, with fifteen he even wrote a few newspaper articles, studied roman law and got involved with politics. In 1823 he founded the “Utilitarian society”. But all these intensive and early studies caused a nervous breakdown in the age of twenty. Mill himself explained that this suppressed any feelings that he might have developed normally in childhood. His depression became even worst when his father died in 1836 which caused severe criticism of the utilitarian theory.
Mill refused to study a the University of Oxford, because he didn’t want to submit to the Church of England, so he preferred to work for the East India Company until 1858. In 1851 he married Harried Taylor after her first husband has died. She has had a great influence on him, concerning women’s rights for example. She died 1858 because of a lung congestion. Mill worked as a Lord Rector of the University of St. Andrews from 1865 to 1868 and was at the same time a Member of the Parliament. There he stood for several social reforms, such as labour unions or farm cooperatives as well as women’s rights, for example the right to vote.
Important works of John Stuart Mill are “A System of Logic” (1843) in which he claims that a theory of economy has to be bound to empiricism and positivism, “Principles of Political Economy - with Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy” (1848) which was said to be the economic standard work of the second half of the 19.th century and at last his work “Utilitarianism” (1863) which was an extension and diversification of the utilitarian theory of Bentham.

== Sources ==
Gaulke, Jürgen. John Stuard Mill. Reibeck bei Hamburg, Rowolth, 1996.

Mill, John Stuart, Utilitarianism, Der Utilitarismus. Trans. Dieter Birnbacher. Stuttgart, Phillipp Reclam, jun., 2008
http://www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Mill,+John+Stuart/Biographie