PHI 325 Lecture 3: Utilitarianism
Document Summary
John stuart mill: british philosopher from 19th century, author of the book. Influenced the british to adopt his proposals of utilitarianism. Wrong actions produce the reverse of happiness. It is said that pleasure: a doctrine worthy only of swine. Mill thinks that human beings have more elevated faculties that swine. Its value is independent of other things: something is valuable by itself and not because of what it is for, ex) height, ex) arguable- knowledge, justice, love, ex) for the utilitarianist- the only intrinsically valuable thing is happiness. Instrumentally (extrinsically) valuable: something is valuable because of what it is for, ex) taller than another friend. Its value depends on its being for something else: you can only be taller your friend if that friend exists, ex) money- good for getting something else, ex) cars, food, etc. Consequentialism: an action is right if and only if it produces the most intrinsic good (or value) compared to all other possible actions.
