The Greatest Happiness Principle By John Stuart Mill

Miski Hashi PHI 240- 4202 Main Essay The Greatest Happiness principle Morality is used to determine whether an action is right or wrong. Many philosophers have come up with ways to determine the morality of an action, and one such philosopher is John Stuart Mill, an English philosopher and an advocate for utilitarianism. In utilitarianism, morality is based on the greatest happiness principle. The greatest happiness principle states that â€Å"actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to promote the reverse of happiness.† Mill believed that morality should be based on the action that brings about the greatest happiness of the general public. Morality, according to utilitarianism, is determined†¦show more content†¦Mill then divides happiness into two parts, quality pleasure and quantity pleasure. Quality pleasure is one that is obtained from a higher mental and quantity is from a lower physical source. Quality is based on intellect and includes music , reading and nature. On the other hand, pleasure derived quantity is based on natural instinct and includes things like food. According to Mill, quality pleasures should be superior to quantity pleasures. Someone who has experience with both will prefer the quality pleasure to the quantity pleasure, even if there is more pain involved with the quality pleasure. This means that if reading or listening to music brings an individual pleasure or happiness, it is higher than most basic biological needs because of its intrinsic value. It does not matter how good and refined a quantity pleasure is, according to Mill, it is still lower than a quality pleasure and should not come before it.(Bahrdwaj) However, Mill never explains how quality pleasure is measured. This becomes a problem because different people have different things they consider quality pleasure. The greatest happiness principle has many faults, including the fact that it bases its morality on the outcomes of an action rather than the motive behind the action. Since according to Mill, a person’s actions are considered morally right when it brings more happiness to the general public than pain, it