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John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)

John Stuart Mill argues that there are two motivations for promoting general happiness: external motivations from pleasing others and fear of displeasing them, and an internal motivation of feeling a duty. Mill believes liberty is essential for progress and can be attained in a representative democracy where rulers and ruled have common interests. He defines specific liberties like liberty of conscience, thought, opinion, speech, press, assembly, and forming one's own life plan, even if perceived as foolish. Ethics involves pursuing one's own good without depriving or impeding others from pursuing theirs, and people can cause harm through action or inaction.

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53 views6 pages

John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)

John Stuart Mill argues that there are two motivations for promoting general happiness: external motivations from pleasing others and fear of displeasing them, and an internal motivation of feeling a duty. Mill believes liberty is essential for progress and can be attained in a representative democracy where rulers and ruled have common interests. He defines specific liberties like liberty of conscience, thought, opinion, speech, press, assembly, and forming one's own life plan, even if perceived as foolish. Ethics involves pursuing one's own good without depriving or impeding others from pursuing theirs, and people can cause harm through action or inaction.

Uploaded by

Jayvee Felipe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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John Stuart

Mill
(1806 -1873)
Happiness
• Mill argues that there are two classes of
motivations for promoting general happiness.
– First, there are external motivations arising from our
•hope of pleasing and fear of displeasing God and other
humans.
– More importantly, there is a motivation internal to the agent,
which is the feeling of duty.
On liberty[edit]

• Mill states that it is acceptable to harm oneself as long as the person


doing so is not harming others.
• that liberty is essential to ensure subsequent progress
• state of affairs would be attained in a representative democracy in
which the opposition between the rulers and the ruled disappears
On liberty
• Mill sidesteps this dilemma by delving into moral theory, where the
only important thing is the happiness of the individual, and such
happiness may only be attained in a civilized society, in which people
are free to engage in their own interests, with all their skills and
capabilities, which they have developed and honed in a good system
of education.
Mill then identified the specific liberties he
had in mind:
• • “liberty of conscience”
• • “liberty of thought and feeling”
• • “absolute freedom of opinion”
• • “liberty of expressing and publishing opinions” (freedom of speech
and press)
• • “freedom to unite, for any purpose” (freedom of assembly)
• • “liberty . . . of forming the plan of our life to suit our own character,
of doing what we like” even if this appeared to be “foolish, perverse,
or wrong”
• Ethics Can be Describe AS:
• "The only freedom which deserves the name is
that of pursuing our own good, in our own way,
so long as we do not
attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede
their efforts to obtain it."

"A person may cause evil to others not only by


his actions but by his inaction, and in either
case he is justly accountable to them for the
injury."

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