John Stuart Mills And Jeremy Bentham's Philosophy Of Utilitarianism

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There comes a time where everyone is stuck in a position where the decision you have to make is based upon morals. “Should I do this or not”, “Is it right or not”, these are the questions that tend to frequently pop up. These decisions tend to be based off of pleasure being greater than the negative or sufferings. This particular moral decision that I will go over today is utilitarianism by John Stuart Mills a follow up on Jeremy Bentham’s utilitarianism. Jeremy Bentham’s philosophy of utilitarianism was that he that believed “happiness could be quantified with actual math to reach the ethical answer to any given problem.” While Mills believed in utilitarian mathematical calculation and it figures out how many people are affected by an action, how it affects them, and whether the action is moral or immoral. Let’s talk about the philosopher himself to understand his philosophy even better. John Stuart Mills was born in London on May 20, 1806 and died May 8, 1873 in Avignon, France, and was the eldest son to James Mill and Harriet Barrow. Mills father was a great influence in his life and his philosophies, and also mentored him while doing his own work. James Mills and Jeremy Bentham became good aquatints, they both shared similar philosophical ideas, and Bentham helped Mills with financial assistance when Mills was trying to establish himself. The connection between James Mill and Jeremey Bentham was a big influence on John Stuart Mills, and which also caused him to create his own philosophy based upon Bentham’s Utilitarianism. Let’s go back to John Stuart Mills, he was a gifted individual, his father spent a lot of time educating him and teaching him Greek and Latin. By the age of 14 he mastered both Greek and Latin. In his tee... ... middle of paper ... ...t is moral or immoral. Overall John Stuart Mill’s philosophy of utilitarianism is an adjusted or remake of Jeremy Bentham’s utilitarianism philosophy. Bentham’s philosophy is usually defined as “maximizing total benefit and reducing the negatives”, while Mills philosophy is different in that instead of all forms of happiness being equal there are two bounds higher pleasure and lower pleasure. So when making a moral judgment on an action you’d take not just quantity but also quality of pleasure. So were coming to the end and we have learned so much about John Stuart Mill’s philosophy of utilitarianism also how it started and how it developed. Will’s was extremely talented from a young age and created extraordinary philosophies on religion, logic and economics. Our time is up and we must part, don’t worry there will be another paper waiting to be read after me.

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