Term Paper on "John Stewart Mill"

Term Paper 6 pages (2516 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

John Stuart Mill

The 19th century witnessed the contributions of many philosophers, and one of the leading among them was J.S. Mill. His place of birth was London in the year 1806 and as a child was more intelligent than his age. Under the able guidance of his father, he received the right education to tread his path to uphold and support the values of utilitarian ideals of Bentham. While he reached the age of 20 years, he had successfully attained this goal: he was heading the younger generation of hard-core philosophers, vocal as a crusader in their mental and transformation endeavors. (Halliday, 53)

Every one among us possesses a clique of ideals, regardless of the fact that we might have evidently articulated them or not. It is natural for individuals to hold opposing views as regards their ethical philosophy and ideals and the comparative gravity they accord to them. These opposing views mirror the events of their lives, triumphs and disappointments, as also the impact of parents, instructors and acquaintances. Similarly J.S. Mill discovered that he did not subscribe to a lot of features of the doctrine of Bentham. Thereafter he initiated a methodical assessment of the different perceptions presented by Thomas Carlyle, Tocqueville and others having the similar philosophy while maintaining his association with the utilitarian fraternity. His influence on contemporary culture and thinking as been tremendous, and his persistent value for current philosophy as societal thinking is accepted far and wide. (Zimmer, 381)

In the realm of Utilitarianism, Mill's works covered three aspects. To start with he offered an unambiguous account of the moral opinions of Bentham and tried to protect these ideas from imprudent condemnation. Next, while working against some of the condemnations, Mill presented amendments of the utilitarian principle. These amendments evidently tell apart Mills opinions from that of Bentham's. Finally, Mill endeavored to exhibit that utilitarian principle was not argumentative to several of the moral viewpoint of other philosophers and the ordinary people. His writing 'On Liberty' delved the tricky issue of the correlation between the individual and the society in general. Apart from the issue of course of action, the utilitarian reply to the issue of uniqueness of humans in the moral and political sphere has attracted the maximum interest. (Ryan, 25)

Mill's accomplishments towards ethics and liberty:

Mill is perhaps the most renowned campaigner of noninterventionist thinking. Mill was a firm advocate of liberty, particularly of expression and thinking. He safeguarded liberty on two foundations. First of all, he reasoned that the value of the society would be optimized when every individual was allowed complete freedom to voice his or her self-preferences. A vehement promoter of liberal thinking, Mill held that liberty comprised of performing according to his or her wishes. He stated that the only purpose for which humans are secured, as an individual or as a group, in meddling with the freedom of act of any of their brethren is self-defense. Besides, if in all of the entire humans, only one held a particular viewpoint, and all the others held the opposing view, humans will be no longer be right in convincing that particular individual compared to him, if possessing the influence, will be reasonable in convincing mankind. Individual liberty ought to be restricted to a particular point; he should not be a cause for botheration for other people. Therefore if any force tramples individuality it is known as tyranny, no matter by whichever identity it may be known. (Spitz, 17)

In addition to this, the person is not answerable to the community for his deeds, till these entail the benefits of the individual itself. Mill's theory that only self-defense can substantiate either the government's tinkering with the liberty of persons or meddling with anybody else's liberty especially regarding the liberty of thinking and deliberation. (Urmson, 34) the only portion of behavior among the others, for which he is agreeable to society, belongs to that involves others. In the portion that is related to him only, his autonomy is, appropriate and total. Beyond himself, beyond his own body and mind, the person is independent. In the opinion of Mill, absolute liberty to convey oneself will facilitate imperfect individuals to exist with imperfection and to go ahead towards excellence which is attainable in a society where no trace of rationality exists. Sovereignty of activities is necessary for the ethical progression of individuals; however, this progression is even out of question, in case people fail to stay in a safe manner in societies. (Collini, 69)

Therefore the well-known thinking relating to 'harm principle' which states that the only cause that freedom might be meddled, is to avert injury to other individuals. In his dissertation 'On Liberty' the philosopher J.S. Mill reasons that in the earlier period the threat had been that monarchs ruled the state at the cost of the ordinary individuals and the fight was concerned with attaining liberty by restricting such state authority. However, the authority has mostly been transferred to the public through democratic methods, the threat being that the general mass disallows freedom to people, whether openly through regulations, or more delicately by way of ethics and societal demands. Even though Mill campaigned for granting voting rights for all, he proposed that the more learned people be empowered for more votes. He ardently shielded this suggestion from the accusation that it was a deliberate attempt to allow the medium class people to dictate. He reasoned that it would safeguard attempt against legalization of the class system and that any learned individual and that include persons who were economically weak would be having additional votes. (Halliday, 127)

Mill did not contemplate lack of restrictions of the right to property as being an ingredient of liberty. He was in support of legacy taxation, safeguard measures for trade, and controlling the duty hours put in by staff. Amusingly, though Mill supported compulsory educative system, he was against compulsory system of going to schools. As an alternative he campaigned for a method for schools and a method of examination to make sure that people had attained a bare minimum stage of education. Hence Liberty was not a general notion to Mill. He viewed liberty as that which needed economic prosperity and thus was more of an individuality-based that was related to class thinking. Thus Mill viewed, liberty was meant for the rare few who possessed the "potential" to take pleasure in independence, contrary to appreciating that entire society people are subjected to regulations for years to come. (Laine, 60)

His ideas of utilitarianism - what it is and how it works needs to be included.

Mill amended and was in support of the universal theory that appropriate acts are considered to a such that have a tendency to achieve the maximum pleasure of the maximum number of individuals, being watchful to take account of a difference in the level of enjoyment that embodies pleasure. According to Mill 'every step taken are attain some purpose.' Hence we encounter the issue pertaining if the ethics of an act can be weighed by just the act or by the purpose for which the act is aimed at. Mill recommends that the ethics of a particular act should be reviewed to the extent of the manner it matches with a common law or theory of ethics. Mill pioneered the row that the theory of utility might be utilized as a measure of ethics. The impact of an act regarding contentment might describe its ethics. (Lively; Rees, 37)

Utilitarianism that is explained by Mill is the belief that acts are appropriate as long as they encourage pleasure, and incorrect as long as they encourage the opposite. Pleasure is contentment, and the opposite of agony. Sorrow is agony, and the lack of presence of enjoyment. Activities that are ethically correct give the maximum equilibrium of pleasure over agony. The maximum pleasure happens while the pleasure of the individual is at the same level as roughly feasible with the pleasure of every human being. As per utilitarian principle, the intention of the act has hardly anything related to ethics of the act. In the opinion of Mill, since individuals are instilled with a potential to think, they are not just contented with physical happiness. They seek to attain mental contentment also. Till man has soared to this maximum mental stage, he wishes to remain at that point, not at all sliding to the decreased point of survival from where he started it all. Mill admits that whereas humans can exist fairly better devoid of pleasure that may be correct theoretically, still humans do not lead lives completely in quest for pleasure; yet they need a yardstick to quantify ethics. (Halliday, 62)

Pleasure might not indicate relentless ecstasy, since these passionate encounters are very short lived. Yet, pleasure to several people might just interpret to being averting agony. The thing that is vital for efficacy is not the intention, however the outcome of an act. An act that generates the… READ MORE

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