Utilitarianism (World Philosophers and Their Works)
At a glance:
- Author: John Stuart Mill
- First Published: 1861
- Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy
- Subjects: Philosophy or philosophers, Pragmatism, Nineteenth century, Europe or Europeans, Law or legislation, England or English people, Good and evil, Progress, Logic
Context
The central aim of John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism is to defend the view that those acts that produce the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people are right and good. This ethical position did not originate with Mill. An influential predecessor, Jeremy Bentham, earlier championed pleasure and pain as the sole criteria for judging what is good and bad. The utility yardstick measures good by asking: Does an act increase pleasure, and does it decrease pain? Bentham’s crude “Push-pin is as good as poetry” interpretation of the yardstick led to...
[The entire page is 3527 words long]
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