JOHN STUART MILL

JOHN STUART MILL

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The central question:

Why is liberty important?

INTRO VIDEO

The Harm Principle

UTILITARIANISM

THE TROLLEY PROBLEM:

ON LIBERTY:

Free Speech

PRINCIPLE OF EQUAL CONSIDERATION:

“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied”

Why is Liberty so important?

• Liberty, he argued, was a means of achieving individual and societal happiness but also an essential part of being human

• Mill hated the dullness of forced uniformity.

• Without liberty to choose or think for ourselves, we cannot flourish and develop as humans. By making our own choices, we learn from our mistakes and become better at it

• In fact, we lose a part of our humanity.

Free Speech

Mill says it is essential. Why?

Intellectual Development + societal progress!

• - By discussing, we challenge opinions and find truth.
• We understand more deeply by defending a correct view.
• Truth must continue to be discussed so it is improved and does not become dogma.
• We learn from our critics.
• We learn to be tolerant and overcome our own implicit biases.
• We learn civility and moderation in how we talk to others.
• "Teaching should not be in the spirit of dogmatism, but in that of enquiry. (Inaugural Address, p. 249)"

People should be free to act however they wish unless their actions cause harm to somebody else.

WHAT IS HARM? (This question is debated by scholars) Harms are events that make a subject worse off than she otherwise would have been.

EXAMPLES Alcohol/Drugs: ✔️ Drinking and Driving: ❌ Violence: ❌ Offense: ✔️

According to Mill, WHO DOES THIS NOT APPLY TO? - Children ❌ - 'Non-civilized'/'Barbarian' colonised peoples ❌ (😡)

GREATEST HAPPINESS PRINCIPLE

“Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.”

HAPPINESS: 1) Pleasure and the absence of pain 2) The one and only thing desirable in itself, the final good; everything we value (health, freedom, money) is because it contributes to happiness. Basically, happiness is the most desirable thing, and the only desirable thing. This is the principle of hedonism.

Principle of Equal Consideration & Impartiality:

• Everyone's happiness matters - and it matters equally.
• Utilitarianism places no privileged status on the happiness of the actor.
• That can call for great self-sacrifice
• The goal is to maximize the total happiness for the greatest number, not just one’s own

Take a look at this.

HIGHER HAPPINESS:

Unlike Bentham, Mill argues that pleasures can be distinguished not only quantitatively, but qualitatively as well.

• Mill then argues that intellectual, moral and aesthetic pleasures are of an intrinsically higher quality than sensual pleasure
• A pleasure is of higher quality if people - who have experienced both (and are thus competent judges) - would choose it over a different pleasure even if it is accompanied by discomfort, and if they would not trade it for a greater amount of the other pleasure.