John Stuart Mill
...; and he found that office-work left him ample leisure for the pursuit of his wider interests, Utilitarianism. What is Utilitarianism??? The principle of utility states that an action is “right if it produces as much or more of an increase in happiness of all affected by it than any alternative action, and wrong if it does not”. Its basis is the idea that pleasure and happiness is valuable, that pain and suffering are intrinsically invaluable, and that everything else has value only if it causes happiness or preventing suffering. A utilitarian is someone who accepts the principle of utility - and is therefore concerned with maximizing value. Utilitarians believe that "happiness", "pleasure", "joy", "satisfaction", "ecstasy" and so on represent positive valuable feelings; and that the value they represent is of a similar kind or equivalent (in some proportion). "Pain", "suffering", "unhappiness", "agony" etc are all regarded similarly - that the disvalue they represent is convertible, not only with that of the other negative feelings, but with the positive feelings too. This means, for example, that a utilitarian might believe that it is worthwhile to endure a certain amount of suffering now, if it ensures a greater amount of happiness later. John Stuart Mill states “Utility or the Greatest Happiness Principle holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (The Philosophy of J.S. Mill 18). Happiness in this case means pleasure in both intellectual and sensual. He continues that “the principle of utility involves an assessment of only an action's consequences, and not the motives or character traits of the agent performing the action”. Mill argues that the principle of utility should be seen as a tool for generating secondary moral principles, such as “don’t steal,” which promotes general happiness. Most of our actions will be judged according to these secondary principles. We should appeal to the principle of utility itself only when we face a moral dilemma between two secondary principles. For example, that a moral principle of charity dictates that I should feed a starving neighbor, and a moral principle of self-preservation dictates that I should feed myself. If I do not have enough food to do both, then I should determine whether feeding my neighbor, or feeding myself would better serve general happiness. “The person, bestirring himself with hopeful prospects to improve his own circumstances, is the one who feels good-will towards other engaged in the same pursuit. But those who, while desiring what others possess, put no energy into striving for it, are either incessantly grumbling that fortune does not do for them what they do not attempt to do for themselves or overflowing with envy and ill-will towards those who possess what they would like to have” (The Philosophy of J.S. Mill 21). Here John Stuart Mill comes to the conclusion that a great de...