Christian Torres

05/05/15

Mills Utilitarianism/Consequentialism
Utilitarianism what is it? Well to begin to understand this commonly used system we must first
understand one of the most influential users of it. This person who was himself influenced by the
likes of Jeremy Bentham was John Stuart Mill. Mill who followed in these footsteps made use of
Utilitarianism to support social welfare. He also used this system to examine human behavior
and to ponder whether certain actions are truly good or evil. So, what is Utilitarianism? Well, it is
a position within the realm of ethics that evaluates the consequences of certain actions. These
consequences are then evaluated in order to find its moral value.
In order to further understand pleasure and pain as well as how it relates to utilitarianism
Bentham had used a hedonistic calculus. This calculus was a kind of score board in which
Bentham attempted to measure the value of various pleasures. This technique assigned positive
and negative values to each experience. A person using this technique would for example take a
walk on the beach and give it ten points. This person would then take an activity like eating ice
cream and give it twenty points. The person making the judgment on which activity is more
pleasurable would then compare the values assigned to each choice. In the case of eating ice
cream it would thus be judged as the more pleasurable experience.
The problem with this quantitative way of thinking according to Mill was that there is no true
way of assigning such points to an experience. Mill believed in a more qualitative version of
utilitarianism. Mills position was that we cannot truly assign these pleasure values to experiences

because each experience is completely different from the last. For example how can a person
truly judge the pleasure value between going to the opera and listening to a pop song? Mill then
pondered on who would be the unbiased expert to judge such distinction. This idea of a judge
that knows better what other people in society would like is very ridiculous because how can
someone truly tell you what is more pleasurable if they are not you. This of course is a
contradiction because utilitarianism is built on the pleasure of each individual living in a society
and not a so called expert.
So according to Mill what is pleasure? Well, Mill made distinctions between what he called
higher pleasures and lower pleasures. Lower pleasures were what he associated with body
functions such as eating and having sex. While higher pleasures would include activities that lead
to intellectual enrichment such as reading, writing, listening to music and having deep
discussions about the world and the universe. Mill believed that the higher pleasures were more
worth a persons time because it allowed for much greater reflection which is what separates us
from other animals.
So while Bentham Believed that all pleasures should be compared equally. Mill believed that
the distinction between higher and lower pleasures should be made clear in order take full
advantage of the intellect and also creates more happiness in the world. Mill unsurprisingly
would often argue for higher education and intellectual enrichment to achieve such a goal of
complete happiness within society. This stark contrast between Mill and his mentor would help
to expand the idea of utilitarianism and become ingrained in the American way of life.
Since Mill believed in a ends justifies the means way of thinking he saw actions such as stealing
to be morally justifiable as long as it leads to a good consequence for society. Some may argue

that the illegal actions of certain corporate executives are just because they allow for America to
be a global power. Keeping this in mind according to Mill the proof for utilitarianism is that
people have historically made use of it. This way of thinking is presumptuous and it is in
violation of the normative function as it assumes how things are rather than how they ought to
be.
Utilitarianism also has two schools of thought, one of which is known as act utilitarianism which
is when the ends justify the means in one particular case. This can be shown when a person in
one instance commits a murder for the greater good. However the second school of thought is
known as rule utilitarianism in which the ends justify the means in similar and multiple acts. This
is demonstrated when many people commit multiple murders for the greater good. This form of
utility may not necessarily lead to a good consequence.