Mill's Utilitarianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Mill's Utilitarianism - Essay Example According to Daniel Bonevac, another implication of utilitarianism is universalism: people should mind the consequences of choices on everyone it affects. We should not consider ourselves, or simply our friends, or community members; we must consider everybody in the society. It is fortunate that most decisions made affect a portion of citizens; this will deny others the pleasure to enjoy the freedom they have. In as much as some pleasures were not intrinsically more valuable than others, nevertheless, utilitarianism would not be â€Å"a pig philosophy† – â€Å"you’d rather be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied†; the use and development of our higher facilities would be virtuous solely by virtue of their benefits to other people. Mill argues that â€Å"Pleasure vary in quality as and at the same time quantity.† Mill stresses that the principle of utility justifies the right actions (Bonevac, Daniel, and Phillips 177). It tries explainin g what makes them right. But the principle does not have to be conscious motive. Tarrant contends that Mill’s radical ideology on education, laudable in themselves are not unswerving with his utilitarianism since in differentiating between lower and higher pleasures, and in Mill’s argument that the higher pleasure are more desirable, he (Mill) is forced to appeal to non-utilitarian values. In the article, T. G. Miles attempts to criticize Tarrant’s argument against Mill. Mill’s defense of higher pleasure preference is undermined in two forms; firstly, because introduces a different value besides happiness, called dignity, and send, because Mill introduces the phrase ‘content,’ which according to Tarrant considers to be ‘a correlate of dignity and a function of the higher pleasure’ and construes as intended stand for â€Å"the sensation attended upon the satisfaction of the desire for higher pleasures’ (Pojman, Louis, and James, 320). Not only is Mill playing up and down between