PHI 1102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Preference Utilitarianism, Consequentialism, John Stuart Mill
8 Apr 2016
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Empiricism: the theory that all knowledge is derived from the sense of experience. Motivation for his hedonistic definition of good life as pleasure (pleasure sensation are empirically accessible, which provides what he thinks is an appealing means for proof of his moral theory). Problem: causes mill to reason from an is to an ought (i. e. causes him to ground morality in an empirical proof). Morality may not need or benefit from such proof. The only proof capable of being given that an object is visible is that people actually see it. The only proof a sound is audible is that people actually hear it. The only proof that anything is desirable is that people do actually desire it. Happiness is the only thing desirable as an end (all other things that people claim are desirable ends, such as virtue, are means to happiness, or are themselves a part of happiness) (p. 7-9)
