Mill, rule-utilitarianism and „incoherence objection”

An A-Z of medical philosophy: Bentham, Mill, and Utilitarianism.

Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) was a one man social revolution. He was a lawyer who sought to reform the penal code. He designed the first high surveillance jail. He founded University College London. He drafted the first new South American constitutions for his friend Simon Bolivar. And when he died his will stated that his body should be stuffed and dressed in his clothes so that he could still p...

Utilitarianism without Consequentialism: The Case of John Stuart Mill

In this essay I will argue, flouting paradox, that Mill was a utilitarian but not a consequentialist. According to the textbook definition, of course, utilitarianism just is the combination of a certain sort of theory of the good (as pleasure, happiness, or flourishing) and a consequentialist theory of the right. My conclusion thus seems necessarily false. Nevertheless, the argument will procee...

UTILITARIANISM John Stuart Mill Abridged by H . Gene Blocker Library of Liberal Arts Archive

“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. By happiness, is intended pleasure and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain and the privation of pleasure. To give a clear view of the moral standard set up by the theory, much more requires to be said; in particular, what thin...

Utilitarianism and Personal Identity

Utilitarianism, Conscience and Animals