3E John Stuart Mill’s development of Utilitarianism: types of pleasure, the harm principle, the use of rules

Question 1

Mill, a former pupil of Bentham, had two criticisms of act utilitarianism; what were they?

Answer 1

1) Bentham was trying to measure pleasure in quantitative terms, which appeared to allow for some actions to be called good when to others they are wrong
- E.g. Bentham’s approach seemingly justifies gang rape ∵ the pleasure of the rapists exceeds that of the victim
- “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied”
2) Act util. = too complex; applying the calculus is time consuming

Question 2

How is Aristotle’s ‘eudaimonia’ close to Mill’s view?

Answer 2

• Eudaimonia ≠ mere gratification, but includes the idea of being well-fulfilled

Question 3

What is Mill’s first change to act utilitarianism?

Answer 3

• Higher and lower pleasures

Question 4

Elaborate on Mill’s first change to act utilitarianism (higher and lower pleasures).

Answer 4

• Shifted the focus from quantity of the pleasure/happiness
• Recognised that some pleasures were superior to others
• Mill = aware that often ppl did not choose the higher pleasure in preference for the lower; he felt this was ∵ they had not experienced both
• Mill recog. that ppl must satisfy the lower pleasures - you need to eat and sleep or procreate through sex, but you should aspire for the higher pleasures
• In Bentham’s, the pleasure that sadistic prison guards may get from torturing a prisoner = justified ∵ multiple of them
- In Mill’s, the pleasure of torture = a lower pleasure ∴ does not outweigh the acute pain of the prisone

Question 5

What are higher pleasures?

Answer 5

• Intellectual; stimulate the mind

- E.g. reading philosophy, aesthetic appreciation, forgiveness

Question 6

What are lower pleasures?

Answer 6

• Physical; stimulate the body

- Eating to satisfy hunger, sex

Question 7

What was Mill’s second change to act utilitarianism?

Answer 7

• The harm principle

Question 8

Give a brief background to the harm principle

Answer 8

• Like Bentham, Mill was interested in social reform (he was a civil servant, MP, and political economist)
• Mill introduced the idea of universalisability; what is right/wrong for one person is right/wrong for all - happiness is the only thing desirable as an end ∴ everyone ought to aim at the happiness of everyone (collective happiness)
• This led him to develop the harm principle

Question 9

Elaborate on Mill’s second change to act utilitarianism (the harm principle).

Answer 9

• Bentham’s a.u. = criticised for potentially allowing evil actions to be justified
• Mill believed, as Bentham did, that individuals should have the freedom (liberty) to do what they like when trying to create pleasure/happiness; as collective happiness = as imp. as individual, it should be of concern that others are happy too
• An individual’s liberty to create happiness should have one exception: indiv.s should not have the freedom to harm another indiv. - they should not indulge their own pleasures if it affects the pleasure of others and brings them pain
• “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against their will, is to prevent harm to others.”
• ∴ criticism = addressed ∵ the torturers (for example) should be stopped from the action from which they get happiness ∵ they are harming another human being, despite the fact that they are creating more pleasure than pain

Question 10

Despite his two changes, why did Mill realise that act utilitarianism was still a challenging ethic to follow? What did he therefore do?

Answer 10

• ∵ of its complexity, esp. when applying the calculus

* He ∴ developed a further change that became known as rule utilitarianism

Question 11

Explain rule utilitarianism.

Answer 11

• Previous moral experiences could help in moral decision making: moral agents become aware that certain actions always bring about happiness
• Mill believed there were universal deontological rules (hence the name) that society could follow which would bring the maximum outcome of happiness e.g. being kind
• “Mankind must by this time have acquired positive beliefs as to effects of some actions on their happiness”
• Good/right = Following a deontological rule that creates the outcome (telos) of maximising pleasure over pain
• Bad/wrong = Breaking a deontological rule that creates the outcome (telos) of maximising pleasure over pain
∴ despite being deontological, r.u. has teleological elements ∵ the moral agent is only following the rules with aim of creating the biggest gap btwn pleasure and pain

Question 12

What is a key benefit of rule utilitarianism?

Answer 12

• Moral agents no longer need to use the slow hedonic calculus ∵ they can now follow the relevant rule in every moral dilemma

Question 13

Give a difference between act and rule utilitarianism.

Answer 13

• Act: follows teleological principle of utility
- Abortion: consider each individual act of abortion and apply the hedonic calculus
• Rule: Follows a set of deontological rules
- Abortion: if the general exp. = that abortion brings greatest balance pleasure, accepting would be the deontological rule, which would be applied to all cases

Question 14

What is the difference between strong and weak rule utilitarianism?

Answer 14

• Strong: Following the rules w/ no exception
• Weak: The rule can be broken in exceptional circumstances (which Mill never clearly defined) and the moral egent can switch back to using a.u. + use hedonic calc.
- E.g. ‘do not kill’ might be broken in WWII if a person had the opp. to kill Hitler
- A hybrid of teleological + deontological

Question 15

Did Mill favour strong or weak rule utilitarianism?

Answer 15

• Weak