PHI 2174 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Selfishness
24 Jul 2016
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Knowledge arises through observation, experience, sensation (physical presence); it is what we gather from the outside world. Evidence is the support in scientific reasoning. You would add up these points" and if there are more positives, then you should go ahead with the action, but if the negatives outweigh the positives, then you should not. Utility = pleasure + freedom from pain. The doctrine that the basis of morals is utility, or the greatest happiness principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong in proportion as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness" is meant pleasure and the absence of pain. ". Bentham only looks at experience and physical inputs, while mill only looks at the consistency of the rational calculation. Mill associates physical pleasure primarily with lower" pleasures, while higher" pleasures are associated usually with the mental realm.
