Compare And Contrast Utilitarianism And The Liberty Principle

The purpose of this paper is to explain how Utilitarianism supports Mill’s Liberty Principle. The Liberty Principle, or harm principle, simply states that the only way someone can stop another person from doing what they want, against their will, is if it will cause harm to others. On the other hand, Utilitarianism, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, is basically stating that the goal of an action or event is to make the most people the happiest. In reference to the greatest happiness principle, the opposite of happiness is not necessarily sadness but is simply referred to as the “opposite of happy;” and this is important to keep in mind when listening to the argument that I will present later on in the paper. I find that the following considerations:

In his book he states, “The Greatest Happiness Principle holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain and the privation of pleasure” (Mill). Although this passage is pretty straightforward I will explain it in simpler terms in order to better understand it. Basically, what Mill is proposing is that according to a Utilitarian, actions are unjustifiably right if they produce happiness, or pleasure, and have an absence of pain. This is a key point into looking at the connection of utilitarianism and the liberty principle. According to the liberty principle a person has the right to do what makes them happy, unless of course it will harm others in the process of doing so. What “harm” entails is a much deeper thought that I explained in the previous paragraph dedicated to the liberty principle. Another thought on the GHP (Greatest Happiness Principle) is the way pleasure is measured. According to Mill, pleasure (happiness) is measured on both a qualitative and quantitative scale. We will first talk about quantity and how this affects pleasure. In regards to the two measurements of pleasure, quantity is the simpler of the two meaning that the goal is to just garner the greatest amount of pleasure. The qualitative side is a little more complex offering that two actions or events when compared are not going to have the same amount of pleasure, and that there are higher and lower pleasures. As humans, we tend to always look for the higher pleasures. A quick definition of a higher pleasure is that a pleasure is higher quality if someone would choose it over