Key points of Chapters Flashcards
Chapter 1
1
1) Philosophy is best served when the works of both Bentham and Coleridge are taken into account.
Chapter 2
4
1) Bentham sought to resolve the chaos of English law.
2) His ‘scientific’ methodology is of great value.
3) Bentham was not the founder of the theory of utility, but he systematised it.
4) Mill contends that all approaches to moral sensibility come under the umbrella of utility.
Chapter 3
6
1) Bentham’s scientific, exhaustive method is as old as philosophy itself.
2) His methods starts with supposing that nothing can be known about the subject.
3) It then builds knowledge without reference to other people’s reflections or thoughts.
4) Mill criticises for ignoring the thoughts and insights of his contemporaries and predecessors.
5) Also criticises Bentham for having experienced a narrow range of human experience and this, with point 4, disqualified him from being a philosopher (cannot be one of the competent judges to which Mill refers in Utilitarianism)
6) It is this question about human nature that Mill is most concerned with and for this reason he rejects Bentham’s practical conclusions but not the entirety of his methodology.
Chapter 4
8
1) A theory of life forms a philosophy, since Bentham’s theory is inadequate, so is his philosophy.
2) Bentham had a reductionist theory of human nature in which self-interest and self-love (understood as the desire for happiness) took central stage.
3) As such, his classification of human motivation (Table of Springs of Action) was inadequate. He failed to appreciate the finer (higher) feelings.
4) Bentham believed that only political, religious and moral sanctions prevented us from harming each other, something Mill rejected. Mill argued that some finer feelings can be pursued as ends in themselves.
5) Mill argues that morality has 2 components: self-regulation and the regulation of our actions. Bentham can only help us with the 2nd as he misunderstood human nature (and was only interested in jurisprudence, not an individual’s morality).
6) As a result, Bentham cannot help the individual.
7) But, he can help society at large by protecting its material interests (not its spiritual).
8) Yet, without an adequate theory of human nature you cannot have an effective moral theory.
Chapter 5
8
1) Bentham’s greatest achievement was turning the philosophy of law into a science.
2) However, in failing to root his philosophy in an adequate understanding of human nature and national character, he fell short.
3) Bentham was interested in jurisprudence (a legal system) and how to check abuses of power (which he answered by saying we have responsibility to those whose interests are in a harmonious government) and to whom we should be subjected (the majority).
4) To this, Mill wonders whether being subjected to the numerical majority is good for us as it assumes we all have the same social status and interests. As we do not, society must ensure the freedom of thought and individuality.
5) Mill accepts the principle of Utility but it can only be achieved through 2ndary ends. We should only return to 1st principles when there is a disagreement over 2ndary ones.
6) Mill advances the belief that we have 3 masters: the moral, the aesthetic, and the sympathetic.
7) a moral action depends on the consequences, its beauty and its loveableness. Lying is wrong because it undermines all 3.
8) Bentham could never understand this because he had no feelings for poetry, seeing it as emotionally manipulative (this returns us to ch.1 - the need for us to seek to both a Benthamite and a Coleridgean).
