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Utilitarianism - Part 3 (Quality Over Quantity)

John Stuart Mill modified Jeremy Bentham's view of utilitarianism, arguing that pleasure is not just the sum of basic pleasures but also includes higher intellectual and social pleasures. Mill believed higher pleasures, like knowledge and friendship, are preferable even if accompanied by discomfort. He disagreed with Bentham that all pleasures are equal, saying this view could lead to overindulgence in basic pleasures at the expense of higher ones. Mill also argued utilitarianism does not require depriving individuals of rights to benefit the majority, and that protecting individual rights creates a happier society overall.

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160 views1 page

Utilitarianism - Part 3 (Quality Over Quantity)

John Stuart Mill modified Jeremy Bentham's view of utilitarianism, arguing that pleasure is not just the sum of basic pleasures but also includes higher intellectual and social pleasures. Mill believed higher pleasures, like knowledge and friendship, are preferable even if accompanied by discomfort. He disagreed with Bentham that all pleasures are equal, saying this view could lead to overindulgence in basic pleasures at the expense of higher ones. Mill also argued utilitarianism does not require depriving individuals of rights to benefit the majority, and that protecting individual rights creates a happier society overall.

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John Stuart Mill Utilitarianism – Quality over Quantity

Mill’s encapsulation of the Utilitarianism, first philosophized by the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus
and later given a foundation by Mill’s teacher Jeremy Bentham, was a classic defense of Utilitarian Ethics
and was written to support its values along with the intention of addressing the misconceptions it
entailed. Even though John Stuart Mill disagreed with the presentation of ‘happiness’ in the in
Bentham’s exploration of Utilitarianism, which brought with it various criticisms, he agreed with the
general concept of identifying the good with pleasure and the bad with pain while offering an
alternative to Bentham’s view labeled to be a ‘pig philosophy’ or laden with ‘swine morality.’

Mill defined Utilitarianism as a principle that states actions which promote happiness are morally right
and those which promote pain and minimize pleasure are morally wrong. The basic deviation that was
mentioned in his modification of Bentham’s Utilitarian Theory was the existence of a qualitative degree
to the factors that provided human beings with pleasure. He argued that pleasure was not merely the
additive sum of base (first-order) pleasures such as eating, drinking, sexuality, resting and sensuous
titillation as explained by Bentham, but also the acquisition of the more preferable “higher-order”
pleasures including intellect, knowledge, creativity, friendship, love and freedom. A pleasure is
considered to be a higher pleasure a. if it would be chosen over another pleasure even if it is
accompanied by discomfort and b. if it would not be traded with a higher quantity of the other pleasure.
Therefore, those who are equally acquainted with and equally capable of enjoying and appreciating both
forms of pleasure do give a most marked preference to the manner of existence which employs their
higher faculties. Mill’s review implies that the assumptions made by Bentham on the equality of
pleasure from any source would lead to the overindulgence of first-order pleasures, starting out with
being gratifying, then eventually leading to pain.

“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied
than a fool satisfied.”

Another major criticism for Utilitarianism in general was its alleged justification to the deprivation of
rights of one individual to satisfy the majority – a basic example would be justification for the murder of
one individual to save the lives of two. But Mill says that Utilitarianism is more subtle than that, a society
that isn’t sure whether one of its members could be murdered anytime by the government just for the
sake of another’s happiness, would surely be a less happy society than the one where everyone is
protected. Mill’s famous works “Utilitarianism” and “On Liberty” together, are attempts to show that
the first principle of utility is the protection of the rights of all.

References
1. (2021). Retrieved 7 November 2021, from https://youtu.be/Dr9954kaFBs
2. (2021). Retrieved 7 November 2021, from https://youtu.be/-a739VjqdSI
3. The History of Utilitarianism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). (2021). Retrieved 7
November 2021, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/#JohStuMil
4. Utilitarianism: Summary | SparkNotes. (2021). Retrieved 7 November 2021, from
https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/utilitarianism/summary/

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