Archetypes of Wisdom

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Archetypes of Wisdom

• Douglas J. Soccio
• Chapter 12
• The Utilitarian John Stuart Mill

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Learning Objectives

• On completion of this chapter, you should be able
  to answer the following questions
• What is psychological hedonism?
• What is ethical hedonism?
• What is the principle of utility?
• What is simple utilitarianism?
• What is the Hedonic Calculus?
• What is the Greatest Happiness Principle?
• What is the Egoistic Hook?
• What is refined utilitarianism?
• What is altruism?

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Social Hedonism

• Modern utilitarianism developed as a response to
  social conditions created by the Industrial
  Revolution, which created a class of workers
  whose jobs were repetitious, dangerous and poorly
  paid (i.e., degrading and dehumanizing).
• Hordes of workers sought work in the mill towns
  and cities, creating large slums.
• High rents resulted in overcrowding, as poorly
  paid workers lived two and three families to an
  apartment.

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Thomas Malthus

• In 1798, Thomas Malthus (1766-1834), an Anglican
  minister, wrote An Essay on the Principle of
  Population as It Affects the Future Improvement
  of Society. He relayed grave doubts about the
  feasibility of social reform.
• He said that food production increases
  arithmetically, but unchecked population growth
  progresses geometrically.
• Troubled by growing slums, he said the only way
  to avoid harsh natural cures like wars and
  epidemics was to stop helping the poor and remove
  all restraints on the free enterprise system.
• The law of supply and demand would make it
  difficult for the poor to marry early or support
  many children, thereby checking the rapid rise in
  population growth.

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Philosophy and Social Reform

• It was in this context that Jeremy Bentham
  (1748-1832) directly challenged the owners,
  bosses, and ruling classes when he insisted that
  each counts as one and only one.
• Bentham criticized those in power for pursuing
  their own narrow, socially destructive goals,
  instead of pursuing happiness for everyone.
• His solution was to establish democratic rule by
  the whole society, rather than by a select class.
• For Bentham, the legitimate functions of
  government are social reform and the
  establishment of the conditions most conducive to
  promoting the greatest happiness for the greatest
  number of people.

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The Principle of Utility

• Bentham attempted to base his philosophy on
  careful observation of social conditions and
  actual human behavior.
• Like Aristippus before him, Bentham saw that pain
  and pleasure shape all human activity.
• In An Introduction to Principles of Morals and
  Legislation, he introduces the principle of
  utility, to act always to promote the greatest
  happiness for the greatest number.
• Sometimes referred to as the pleasure principle,
  the principle of utility uses psychological
  hedonism (that pain and pleasure determine what
  we do) to develop an ethical hedonism (that these
  alone point to what we ought to do).

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The Hedonic Calculus

• Bentham wanted to make ethics a science. He
  formulated the hedonic calculus, introducing
  mathematical precision to the difficult task of
  weighing alternative courses of action.
• For this, Bentham proposed units of pleasure or
  pain, called hedons (today often referred to as
  utiles).
• When contemplating an action, one calculates the
  pleasure and pain for those affected in terms of
  seven elements.
• Bentham believed each of us already uses hedonic
  calculation on an intuitive level, and that he
  was simply adding scientific rigor to our
  informal methods of choosing pleasure and
  avoiding pain.

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The Hedonic Calculus

• In Benthams hedonic calculus, he identified four
  elements that affect pleasure or pain themselves.
  Two affect the action related to pleasure or
  pain, and one is based on the number of people
  affected. The seven elements are
• 1. Duration How long will the pleasure last?
• 2. Propinquity How soon will the pleasure occur?
• 3. Certainty How likely or unlikely is it that
  the pleasure will occur?
• 4. Fecundity How likely is it that the proposed
  action will produce more pleasure?
• 5. Intensity How strong is the pleasure?
• 6. Purity Will there be pain accompanying the
  action?
• 7. Extent How many other people will be
  affected?

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The Question is,Can They Suffer?

• Bentham extended the ethical reach of the
  pleasure principle beyond the human community to
  include any creature with the capacity to suffer.
  
• Bentham rejected any notion that animals lack
  moral worth simply because they cannot reason.
• In this, Bentham disagreed with Descartes, whose
  dualism led him to conclude that animals are
  soulless, and so, not members of the moral
  community.
• But for Bentham, The question is not, Can they
  reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?

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John Stuart Mill

• John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) is one of the most
  interesting figures in philosophy.
• His parents were estranged his father was
  unfeeling.
• His destiny was sealed when Bentham befriended
  his father, and the two developed a rigorous
  education for John Stuart, carefully planned to
  produce a champion of utilitarianism.

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John Stuart Mill

• When he was twenty, Mill began to pay the high
  price of his hothouse education in earnest with a
  depression or breakdown he described as a dry
  heavy dejection.
• Mill later blamed the strict environment in which
  he was raised of robbing him of his feelings.
• But aided by his superior intellect, Mill was
  eventually able to pull himself out of his
  depression and develop a fuller and deeper
  insight into the the human condition than his two
  teachers ever knew.

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Mill on Womens Rights

• Mills rigid training was also softened by his
  remarkable relationship with Harriet Taylor.
  After her first husbands death, the two were
  married (fifteen years after they met).
• She lived only another seven years, but Mill
  credited her with improving his work for the
  better, saying, the properly human element came
  from her.
• One great effect she had was in the area of
  womens rights, leading Mill to write On The
  Subjection of Women, and to become an advocate
  of rights for that half of the population that
  had been hitherto denied a natural environment in
  which to flourish.

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Refined Utilitarianism

• Mill could not accept Benthams simple version of
  hedonism, leveling all pleasures as Aristippus
  had done.
• Bentham failed to assign higher importance to
  moral, intellectual, or emotional pleasures.
• By introducing the notion of quality into
  utilitarianism, Mill refuted the orthodoxy he had
  been raised to defend. Most significant was
  Mills declaration that all pleasures are not, in
  fact, equal.
• Mill argued that there are empirical grounds for
  asserting that what we might call refined
  pleasures are preferable to the cruder
  pleasures.

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Altruism and Happiness

• Mill asserts that utilitarianism ultimately rests
  on the social feelings of mankind, the desire to
  be in unity with our fellow creatures.
• Altruism from the Latin alter, or other is
  the capacity to promote the welfare of others.
  Altruism stands in clear contrast to egoism no
  individuals self-interest is more or less
  important than any others self-interest.
• The function of education is twofold 1) to
  instill the skills and knowledge necessary for an
  individual to live well and productively, and 2)
  to create healthy, altruistic citizens.
• But the second part requires that education
  become a life-long activity, with people having
  the opportunities and an environment conducive to
  that development.

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Happiness and Mere Contentment

• Mill was not content with merely modifying
  behavior. He wanted to reform character, too.
• In this regard, he distinguished between
  happiness and mere contentment.
• Mere contentment is a condition of animals and
  those unfortunate people limited to enjoying
  lower pleasures. A major goal of Mills
  utilitarianism is to make as many people as
  possible happy, rather than just content.
• Mill believed that happiness requires a balance
  of tranquility and excitement. Selfishness the
  principle cause of unhappiness robs us of both.

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Mills Persistent Optimism

• According to Mill, the chief task of all
  right-thinking, well-intentioned people is to
  address the causes of social misfortune.
• From Mills (and Benthams) concern for society,
  we have acquired the concept of public utilities,
  welfare regulations, and mandatory minimum
  education laws.
• Mill also argued that liberty of thought and
  speech are absolutely necessary for the general
  happiness, since we can determine the truth only
  through an ongoing clash of opinions. He worried
  about what has been called the tyranny of the
  majority, and warned against assigning too much
  weight to majority beliefs.

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Mills Persistent Optimism

• In the end, Mill remained an optimist.
• He maintained that by applying reason and good
  will, the vast majority of human beings could
  live with dignity, political and moral freedom,
  and a harmonious happiness.
• He believed that the wisdom of society could
  extinguish poverty, and that well-intentioned
  science could alleviate many other problems.

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Discussion Questions

• How does Mill distinguish between happiness and
  contentment?
• Why is this distinction vital to his utilitarian
  philosophy?
• What role does education play here?
• Has your education lived up to Mills hopes? If
  yes, in what ways? If no, why not?

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Chapter ReviewKey Concepts and Thinkers

• Psychological Hedonism
• Ethical Hedonism
• Principle of Utility
• Altruism
• John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
• Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)
• Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)