Mill's Utilitarianism + On Liberty + Considerations

Utilitarianism

"The greatest happiness of the greatest number or the GHP" - Francis Hutcheson, Scottish enlightenment figure. The idea of maximizing aggregate welfare is complex because does attaining valuable mental states mean happiness?

Four Grounds for Free Expression

1) "if any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, be true. To deny this is to assume our own infallibility." How can we be confident that we're right about it if we don't allow people to question opinion? 2) "Though the silenced opinion be an error, it may contain a portion of the truth; and since the general opinion on any subject is rarely the whole truth, it is by the collision of adverse opinions that the remainder of the truth has any chance of being supplied." General opinion is either false or partly false. If you allow criticism of the truth, you move closer to it. 3) If we don't allow people to push us on our beliefs that we're completely certain on, we'll never think hard enough of the reason why we believe the things we do. It's a form of self-injury to not allow your views to be challenged. 4) The dogma becomes a form of profession, because you don't understand the grounds of your beliefs, you lose the belief and it dies, therefore not moving us to action.

Qualitative Hedonism

1) Absolute priority of higher over lower pleasures: a) priority: pleasures of the intellect, of the feelings and imagination, and of the moral sentiments ranked above mere sensations. Humans have meritocracy to experience and develop higher cognitive faculties. b) absolute: some acquisition for lower pleasures is a precondition. "... would not resign it for any quantity of the other pleasure." 2) Competent judges to rank these types: a) competent judges are not biased, judge impartially, are reflective and don't make decisions immediately. They should be experienced and habits of self-consciousness. Important role granted to experts who have expertise on pleasure and pain, but they are not granted coercive powers. We can learn from their wisdom.

Reconciling his Commitments

1) Mill practices perfectionism within utilitarianism: qualitative hedonism embodies the spirit of the former but remains consistent with the letter of the latter. 2) Mill builds liberalism into his perfectionism: only freely-chosen (self-)development valued. 3) Mill has faith in human progress under liberalism: freedom + education will yield development.

Individuality and Perfection (Development of Higher Faculties)

1) Mill speaks of men and women choosing a plan of life and says that those who choose their plan for themselves, employs all of their faculties. They must use observation to see, reasoning and judgement to foresee, activity to gather materials for decision, discrimination to decide, and when he has decided, firmness and self-control to hold to his deliberate decision (develop capacities by exercising them). 2) It is important what manner of men they are that do it. Human nature is a tree which requires to grow and develop on all sides. Mill says that you need to be accountable but can't let go spontaneity. 3) If there is an omniscient being that created the world, we have capacities that need to be developed. Mill suggests that there are ideal conceptions embodied in everyone, every increase in our capabilities of comprehension, of action, or of enjoyment.

Other Issues of Utilitarianism

1) Weighting Utilities: Committed to impartiality, there is no justification for weighting the utility or welfare of one over the other. 2) Animal Rights: protections for animals because they can feel pleasure and pain too. 3) Political Implications: exoteric, direct, act utilitarianism tend to be politically radical, whereas more indirect and or esoteric versions are politically ambiguous.

Applications of Principle of Liberty

1) competition, especially in labor and product markets and in educational testing and provision. Mill loves competition and he worries that if we are not placed in competitive environments, we will be lazy. Mill supports school choice, schools should compete with each other for students and government should take a role in testing for certification process. 2) citizen participation in local govt. At local level, govt should be direct democratic, Mill believes it's essential to develop higher faculties and get access to higher pleasures. There are inefficiencies but it drives people to better themselves.

Hedonistic Utilitarianism

1) happiness is just a matter of pleasure and pain 2) all pleasures and pains are homogenous (both across activities and across people) 3) aggregative principle: add up pleasures and pains to get the grand number of pleasures in society and do whatever is necessary to make aggregate welfare the same. Mill is a qualitative hedonist.

Tensions among the Philosophical Comments

1) liberalism v. utilitarianism: banning atheist writings in a pious community and interracial/gay marriage in a bigoted one, thus averting pains of offense. 2) liberalism v. perfectionism: content restrictions on speech promoting consumerism; prohibitions on unhealthy foods; mandatory Bach listening. 3) utilitarianism v. perfectionism: dislodging people from positions of comfort (e.g., orthodox religious communities like Amish) to further personal growth.

Direct Utilitarianism: Act vs Rule Utilitarianism

Act utilitarianism: choose acts in order to maximize happiness. Rule utilitarianism: choose rules to maximize happiness (ex: choose rules against robbery, slavery, etc and choose acts that follow these rules). Rules may be broken to advance welfare and maximize happiness.

Grounds 3 and 4

Both grounds are linked to perfectionism -- Mill's concern that we develop our higher faculties. Opinions waste away from disuse, both in thought and in action. A "dead dogma" is an opinion whose lack of grounding prevents it from motivating behavior. It is about development of human capacities for thought and action.

Individuality and Perfection

Consistent with the Principle of Liberty, Mill contends that "men should be free to act upon their opinions -- to carry these out in their lives" without harm to others. People should be free to act on their opinions. Mill says there should be different experiments of living, people should be given freedom to try out different methods of living, he is pushing against the idea that you should submit to the norms of life. Mill's perfectionism is the theme for chapter 3. There is no contradiction between Mill's utilitarianism and his perfectionism: qualitative hedonism is consistent with the letter of utilitarianism but embodies the spirit of perfectionism. Mill speaks of perfection, not pleasure. Despite his promise to make utility the ultimate appeal on all ethical questions, his focus is on the development of human faculties.

Exoteric vs Esoteric Utilitarianism

Exoteric: publicly knowable and known, everyone is aware of its ethics and politics (direct, act) Esoteric: hidden or secret, only possible if utilitarianism is indirect, people don't need to have the GHP as their motive. Sidgwick is open to esoteric but Bentham and Mill are not.

A Bold, Heterodox Move

Feeling for holding and expressing your own opinion is more important than the feeling of someone who is offended. When you express an opinion that is offensive to others, every individual that hears it (their pain may outweigh your pleasure). "There is no parity between the feelings of a person for his own opinion, and the feeling of another who is offended at his holding it; no more than between the desire a thief to take a purse, and the desire of the right owner to keep it." We disregard the feelings of the religious bigot or the pleasures of the thief caught stealing the purse. Mill is saying that a feeling offense (religious, moral, etc) is properly disregarded and not to be counted as "damage" to the one offended.

Mill's Utilitarianism

GHP: greatest happiness principle: actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the opposite of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure. This appears to be orthodox Benthamite: 1) hedonistic: (happiness defined as pleasure, a positive feeling) 2) direct: (GHP seems to be something that is directly motivating because of wanting the greatest happiness for everyone) 3) act: (actions rather than rules)

Crypto-perfectionism

Great intuitive appeal of hedonism is that it focuses on increasing the pleasure and reducing the pain of "the whole sentient creation" which most people think is a part of morality. Mill has in mind the pleasures and pains as it should be experienced by competent judges but people are generally not. This puts Mill in a position of judging an action that would increase pleasure for competent judges and increase pain for sentient beings.

Mill's Liberalism

Historical threats to individual liberty and two ways in which they were countered: 1) legal recognition of certain liberties (e.g., bill of rights) 2) popular constitutional checks (an elected parliament). Mill warns against the tyranny of the majority, whether it is exercised by way of state power or social pressure. To guard against tyranny, he suggests that the line between "individual independence and social control" be drawn according to the Principle of Liberty that would apply "whether the means used be physical force in form of legal penalties or moral coercion of public opinion.

Sidgwick's Reply

Mill disregards injuries to people who are morally censorious to make space for individual freedom. Sidgwick does not see how it is from a utilitarian point of view justifiable to say that secondary injury to others is to be disregarded in view of the advantages of allowing free development of individuality. Mill's concern is to prevent social disapproval from stifling individual spontaneity and "experiments of living," which are prerequisites for human development and progress.

Mill's Philosophical Comments (OL)

Mill endorses three philosophical positions: 1) utilitarianism (qualitative hedonism): teleological theory with subjective theory of human good. 2) perfectionism: teleological moral objective theory of human good where certain states of activities of human beings are good apart from any pleasure they bring, and what is morally right is what promotes these perfections. 3) Liberalism: grounded on value of individual liberty/personal freedom; basic liberties: liberty of conscience; freedom of speech, press and association; criminal-procedural protections; property. Institutional supports: the rule of law, a (written) constitution, judicial review, representative democracy, open markets.

Act or Rule?

Mill considers it ridiculous against utilitarians to claim that they test every action by the GHP (Bentham is an act utilitarian). Mill argues this would be impossible and pointless because mankind knows the tendencies of actions, which is why we consider whole categories of actions (murder, assault, theft) to be wrong. Mill says that utilitarianism enforces rules against murder, theft, as practical guides to behavior, or rules of thumb. This apparently makes Mill a rule utilitarian.

The "Proof" of the GHP

Mill notes that "to be incapable of proof by reasoning is common to all first principles" including the GHP, but he still tries to offer proof, which has two serious flaws: 1) is/ought conflation: The fact that people desire something is not evidence for why it should be pursued. You can't derive a "should" from "is". 2) Fallacy of composition: if something is true of the part, you therefore say it's true of the whole. Solution is to treat GHP as axiomatic: pleasure just intrinsically good, pain intrinsically bad. Acknowledge that all moral and political systems will start with first principles that will only be self-evidently true. Ex: pleasure of serial killer, even if no pains followed, not good. Problem: there is only one intrinsically good thing, which is pleasure, in the eye of a hedonist. But other intrinsic goods are truth and freedom.

Nonhedonistic Utilitarianism

Mill rejects the claim that pleasures and pains are completely homogenous. Fewer cultivated pleasures (intellectual ones) can't be compensated by more bestial ones. Ex: Pleasure of understanding and reading a poem can't be compensated for more donuts. Bentham and Sidgwick are hedonists.

Justifiable Paternalism

Mill says that forcibly stopping a man from crossing an unsafe bridge if there's no time to warn him is not a violation of the Principle of Liberty, "for liberty consists in doing what one desires, and he doesn't desire to fall into a river." Being informed is principle of liberty. He goes on to say that there is no justification for preventing a man from incurring risks "unless he is a child, delirious, or in some state of excitement or absorption incompatible with the full use of the reflecting faculty." The POL is conditional on individuals being: well-informed, mature, sober, and fully reflective. Mill says this about alcohol: 1) Condemns policies making alcohol difficult to obtain because there are people capable of responsibly consuming it. 2) drunkenness punishable only if an individual has a previous conviction either of violence or of failure to discharge legal duties. 3) Supports regulations to prevent alcohol providers from promoting intemperance, which is in their interest. 4) The state may not indirectly discourage drinking for paternalistic reasons, but may do so in order to raise revenue efficiently.

What counts as "Harm"?

Mill speaks of "certain interests" that conduct must respect without really defining what those interests are. He talks about the sanctions appropriate to self-regarding behavior vs behavior that is injurious to others, but he does not distinguish between the kinds of behavior (e.g., are hurt feelings, embarrassment, or annoyance a kind of damage) Mill argues that whenever there is a definite damage, the case is taken out of the province of liberty and placed in that of morality or law. The problem with his initial statement of the Principle of Liberty: it excludes from protection conduct "which concerns others," but given the interconnectedness of humanity, this may exclude nearly all conduct from protection.

Grounds 1 and 2

Mill talks about the mistaken persecutions of Socrates. Athens executed Socrates for the things he was saying, but if you suppress someone's speech, how do you know it doesn't have some truth in it? Few people will assert their own infallibility and once they've admitted their fallibility, the case for open discussion is strong because we value the truth so highly. Mill argues in the alternative, assumes the truth of prevailing opinion and then suggests that it's worthwhile to have those views challenged. It is not merely what we believe that matters but also how we believe it.

Teleological Morality

Mill thinks all proper moral theories are teleological: "the good is defined independently from the right, and then the right is defined as that which maximizes the good." It is some end goal or objective, goal oriented. Right is legal or ethical rules that are required to maximize the utility in the world. A perfectionist says that good is understood as perfection: the idea that there are valuable human capacities and they need to be developed as much as possible for good of city and perfection of soul. All proper moral theories have to be teleological.

In Defense of Mill as Hedonist

Mill would not characterize his theory as crypto-perfectionist. He would stress that pleasure and pain are still the ultimate standards of judgment and that his theory is hedonistic because he is focused on maximizing pleasures and net pains. Mill argues qualitative hedonism is simply what hedonism looks like once we arrive at an elevated conception of utility. Letter and spirit distinction: do you follow letter of law or simply follow the spirit? Mill is a utilitarian in letter only because he bases his philosophy on idea of pleasure and pain, value of pleasure and disvalue of pain. His spirit of philosophy feels like perfection and more like Plato because of higher pleasures having priority over lower pleasures. Mill also highlights need for mental cultivation so that everyone born in a civilized country may experience the higher pleasures.

Mill's (Plural) Perfectionism

Mill's qualitative hedonism is an attempt to practice perfectionism within utilitarianism: the "higher pleasures" are linked to the development and exercise of the "higher faculties." The objective theory of human good (cultivation of intellectual and spiritual excellence) is superior to the subjective theory of human good (pursuit of sensual pleasures). Mill emphasizes value of self-assertion, questioning of conventional values and ways of life, experimentation in thought and living, and the kind of intellectual and spiritual progress that all these bring.

Direct or Indirect?

Rule utilitarianism is still a form of direct, in which GHP is the ultimate standard and the motive for action that is consistent with felicific rules. Direct is about why you do good. Indirect is where the GHP is the ultimate standard but not the sole motive. Mill thinks it's appropriate that private persons should be motivated by the interests of particular persons they are able to help, not the general interests of society or welfare of all human beings on this planet. It might be counterproductive to think about universal philanthropy in certain situations.

Bentham's Intro to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (Ch 4 Value of a Lot of Pleasure or Pain, How to be Measured)

Rules of thumb for measuring: 1) intensity: pleasure of solving a math problem rather than pleasure from drugs 2) duration 3) certainty: how likely a pleasure will occur from action 4) propinquity "speedy": how quickly the pleasure rushes upon you 5) fecundity "fruitful": some pleasure leads to echo later pleasure 6) purity: mixed with pain 7) extent: how many people experience with pleasure

Moral Psychology

The GHP derives its binding force or motivates us to act/judge with it through sanctions or punishments, whether they be: 1) external (fines, jail [law] contempt, ostracism [opinion]) 2) internal (guilt or shame) The source of this guilt or shame --> human motivations are complex. Mill improves on Bentham by explaining how a "powerful natural sentiment", or "the social feelings of mankind; the desire to be in unity with our fellow creatures" motivate our obedience to the GHP. Sympathy explains why our own utility might be linked to other sentient beings. This sympathy must be cultivated through religious education, not its content of the existence of God, but its pervasiveness and demandingness. Mill is in tradition of rational religion so it can serve human interests.

Bentham's Intro to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (Ch 1 Of the Principle of Utility)

The GHP is to be the standard and motive for every action of every individual, whether in private life or in govt service. Judge laws by what kind of effect they will have on overall happiness and required to apply to standard and motivated to pursue happiness of mankind and universal philanthropy. Interest of the community is the sum of interests of members who compose it.

Jeremy Bentham

The Panopticon failed to receive funding from Parliament which motivated his desire for electoral reform. He was a cult leader because his corpse would inspire others to promote utilitarian logic. "Felicific calculus" the object is to maximize welfare under constraints

Principle of Liberty

The Principle of Liberty applies to individuals that are sovereign over their own mind and body, therefore the govt or people cannot interfere unless they are causing harm to others and is limited in application to mentally competent adults in civilized nations, fall into 3 categories: 1) freedom of the mind: liberties of conscience, thought, feeling, freedoms of speech and press 2) personal freedom: liberty of tastes and pursuits, free choice of life plans, freedom of action consistent with prevention of harm to others 3) freedom of association: combining and uniting with others consistent with prevention of harm to others. Mill regards utility as the ultimate appeal on all ethical questions.

Regulating Procreation

Those that are unfit to be parents consequent for children and those that are being affected by those children (harms imposed upon other people). Mill suggests restricting procreation to prevent harm to children and third parties. (Ex: China's one child policy, inconsistent with human rights and liberalism). It might be effected through parental screening or licensing.

Justice and Utility

Three evaluative categories for actions/agents: 1) justice: perfect duties (require certain actions, e.g. do not steal or murder); correlative rights (e.g., to property or life); enforce by law (fines, jail, execution). 2) Morality: imperfect duties (do not require certain actions but rather setting certain ends; e.g. be polite, give to charity); no correlative rights; enforce by opinion, i.e., social pressure (contempt, ostracism). 3) Expediency/Worthiness: "there are things which we wish that people should do, which we even like them for doing, perhaps dislike them for not doing, but yet admit that they are not bound to do; it is not the case of moral obligation; we do not blame them or think they are proper objects of punishment." (e.g. addict) Utility is the ground of justice... and limits it: "... All persons are deemed to have a right to equality of treatment, except when some recognized social expediency requires the reverse."

Total vs Average Utilitarianism

Under a set of reasonable assumptions about utility, total (classical) utilitarianism will lead to large populations than average utilitarianism.

Henry Sidgwick

taught moral philosophy, strong supporter of women's rights --> founded Newnham College for women. His Methods of Ethics is notable for: 1) recognizes the weaknesses of utilitarian doctrine and attempts to correct them consistently with the doctrine's central tenets (tries to stay true to utilitarianism) 2) attempts a comparative study of three moral conceptions:(intuitionism: idea that there are many kind of valuable things in the world like truth, pleasure, beauty) (egoistic hedonism: maximize pleasures and net pain for yourself) (universalistic hedonism: maximize pleasures for everyone universally)