Utilitarianism

Introduction

Mill first published the essay in three instalments in Fraser’s Magazine in 1861, and as a short book in 1863. Its five chapters answer common objections to the doctrine of Bentham and Mill’s father: that it is a “doctrine worthy only of swine”, that it is godless, or that no one can calculate consequences in advance. Mill’s reply introduces higher and lower pleasures, to be ranked by those who have experienced both. The fourth chapter contains a much-criticised “proof” that happiness is desirable because people in fact desire it, and the long final chapter connects justice with utility. It is often the first text on utilitarianism that students read.

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Connections

Builds on

• An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation1789 · Jeremy Bentham

Criticizes

• Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals1785 · Immanuel Kant

Taken up in

• The Methods of Ethics1874 · Henry Sidgwick
• Famine, Affluence, and Morality1972 · Peter Singer
• Utilitarianism: For and Against1973 · J. J. C. Smart

Criticized in

• Principia Ethica1903 · G. E. Moore
• A Theory of Justice1971 · John Rawls
• Utilitarianism: For and Against1973 · J. J. C. Smart

More works by John Stuart Mill

• 1843A System of Logic
• 1859On Liberty
• 1869The Subjection of Women