1. Utilitarianism – John Stuart Mill
Learning objectives
Know what aspects of Utilitarianism JS Mill accepted
Explain what problems Mill had with Bentham’s utilitarianism
Explain Mill’s division of pleasures into ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ pleasures

2. What do the pictures represent? What’s missing?
Purity
Richness R
Intensity C
Extent
Duration

3. Hedonic Calculus Re-Cap

4. Weaknesses of Act Utilitarianism
Check pages 14 and 15 of booklet 3
What problems are highlighted by this example?
Check you have answered the questions on page 14 – in detail
Check the extended writing on page 15 –Vardy pages ‘Some problems’

5. John Stuart Mill Autobiography
Born: 1806 (19th Cent)
Nationality: British, London
Godfather/ influenced by : Jeremy Bentham
Ethical Position: Liberal, teleological, utilitarian
Famous works: On Liberty, Utilitarianism

6. What he liked about Bentham’s work
Teleological
Principle of utility
Strive for equality

7. What he didn’t...
Problem with quantifying happiness – Mill’s murderer example
No protection for the minorities – sadistic prison guard example
Can lead to potentially immoral acts – see above

8. The Common Good JSM believed we should aim for the common good
If you had to make a list of pleasures that tend to lead towards the common good what would they be?

9. Higher / Lower Pleasures
‘It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.’
Mill’s plan was to split ‘pleasure’ into ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ categories
He suggested that we then pursue the ‘higher’ pleasures teleologically – aiming for the end/telos
This, he argues, would solve the problems of permitting immoral acts
It would also give us guidelines about what pleasures we should pursue consequentially

10. Higher Pleasures –
Pleasures of the intellect, mind or the spiritual. They help humans to develop their intellect e.g.
Literature – Plays
Music - Beethoven
Why did Mill believe that higher pleasures are superior?

11. Lower Pleasures – Those of the Body
Inferior pleasures of the body
What ‘lower’ pleasures do you think you can see in these clip? List examples of lower pleasures
lower pleasures
Mill did recognise that we need to first achieve the lower pleasures –humans need to eat, sleep, etc. before they can aim for the higher pleasures.

12. Rule Utilitarianism
Believed that rules have a positive contribution to make to utilitarian ethics
Believed society should devise and stick to rules which would, in most cases, lead us to the common good.
This theory can be split into weak and strong rule utilitarianism

13. Rule Utilitarianism
Strong rule = the person must always stick to the rules which have been devised
Weak rule = there may be situations in which the rules can be broken
Which one of the above is bordering on deontological?
Think of an example to illustrate the difference between strong and weak Utilitarianism

14. John Stuart Mill summary
Read the information and complete the missing words
consequences
moral rules,
judges,
intellectual
happiness,
Bentham,
Pain
Qu 14 A competent judge, to Mill is one who has experiences of both types of pleasure and when choosing between the pleasures of philosophy and the pleasure of drugs, they will prefer the pleasure of philosophy and therefore it becomes a higher pleasure.

15. Comparison Task Venn Diagram (or three column table)Vs
Bentham
Mill
Quantitative

16. Explain Mill’s Rule Utilitarianism
Intro – type of theory P 1. Influenced by JB – what did he accept? P2. Which JB ideas did he reject? Prison guards P3. How should we judge happiness? Rules P4. Development of Rule Utilitarianism P5. Examples