PHIL 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: John Stuart Mill

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 1010
• Professor: Monique Deveaux

Document Summary

Utilitarianism is one of the most powerful and persuasive approaches to normative ethics in the history of philosophy. In john stuart mill"s on liberty, he attempts to provide clarification on the misunderstandings surrounding this concept by responding to the criticism that we cannot know which actions will lead to the greatest happiness. Although there are various versions of the view discussed, utilitarianism is described by. John stuart mill as actions that are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, and wrong as they tend to promote the opposite of happiness. He also argues that the utilitarian"s goal is the happiness of all people, not just an individual, meaning that a person must not cherish their own happiness over that of others. However, the motives behind an action are insignificant so long as the goodness of the result are positive. In my opinion, mill"s idea of utilitarianism is, in fact, incorrect.