Work · Mill
Utilitarianism
1863 · Five chapters
The greatest-happiness principle defended, with higher and lower pleasures, against its critics.
1863
Published
5
Chapters
Higher pleasures
Mill’s revision
Mill’s answer to the "doctrine worthy of swine"
Bentham measured pleasure by quantity alone, which made utilitarianism sound like a philosophy for pigs. Mill’s repair is qualitative: some pleasures are higher than others, and the only judge is the competent person who has actually tasted both.
The shape of the argument
Ch. 1 — General Remarks
Morality has limped for 2,000 years without an agreed first principle; the greatest-happiness principle is offered as that missing foundation.
Ch. 2 — What Utilitarianism Is
The principle stated, the "worthy only of swine" objection answered by higher vs lower pleasures and the competent-judges test, and the standard objections met.
Ch. 3 — The Ultimate Sanction
What actually binds a person to the principle: external sanctions, and above all the internal sanction of conscience, a feeling of duty.
Ch. 4 — Of What Proof It Is Susceptible
The notorious "proof": the only evidence that a thing is desirable is that people desire it, so the general happiness is desirable.
Ch. 5 — Justice and Utility
The hardest chapter: reconciling the powerful feelings of justice and rights with the utilitarian standard, treating them as the most vital class of utilities.
The cast
Mill — defends and refines the greatest-happiness principle against a century of caricature
The competent judges — those who have known both higher and lower pleasures, and whose verdict settles which is which
Bentham — the foil: the quantity-only hedonism Mill keeps but qualifies
The "proof" — the desirable-is-what-is-desired argument, ever after accused of a fallacy
The famous bits
The greatest-happiness principleCh. 2
Actions are right as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse.
Higher and lower pleasuresCh. 2
Some kinds of pleasure are more desirable and more valuable than others, by quality and not merely quantity.
Socrates dissatisfiedCh. 2
Better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.
The proof of utilityCh. 4
The sole evidence that anything is desirable is that people actually do desire it.
Justice and rightsCh. 5
Justice names the most sacred and binding part of morality, but it rests, Mill argues, on utility after all.