Book Review 4 - Utilitariansm by John Stuart Mill

the least misery to the least number
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At long last – the promised blog on Utilitarianism – one of my favourite philosophies. It has occurred to me that I have been talking a lot about God for an Atheist, but this book review will be fairly free from that topic as like the Epicureans, Utilitarianism is based on human-centred ethics. It owes a lot to the philosophy of Epicurus in that it recognizes that humans respond naturally to pleasure and wish to avoid pain whenever possible. But unlike the Epicureans, the Utilitarians did not advocate withdrawing from public life to achieve this state. In fact the founder of the movement Jeremy Bentham was one of the most influential thinkers of the 18th and early 19th centuries, particularly in England. He is credited with influencing the Great Reform Bill of 1832 which overhauled the still feudal British electoral system. He also had a great impact on reform of the British legal system and was one of the first people to promote women’s suffrage and the decriminalization of homosexuality.

The main principle of Utilitarianism however is “the greatest good for the greatest number” meaning that all actions must be judged by their outcomes rather than by their motives, and whether they maximise happiness or pleasure for ourselves or for society in general. This is how we should determine what is right and wrong and this utility is also known as the greatest happiness principle. Bentham believed that humans have a tendency “to make a duty and a virtue of following their self-interest” but that because we have to co-operate with others we can develop sympathy with the needs of our fellow humans. Like Aristotle, Bentham was very concerned with defining things that we take for granted and disliked “vague generalities.” He very precisely described the different kind of pleasures such as those of the senses, wealth, skill, amity or friendship, power, reputation, piety and even malevolence. Some pleasures such as piety and malevolence can also be pains. His main interest though was in the best way to govern and to make laws as a result of his theory.

His follower, John Stuart Mill, who modified and expanded the concept of Utilitarianism, was more interested in ethics and morality. John Stuart Mill went further than Bentham and incorporated a Stoic sense of duty and the role of the conscience into Utilitarianism, claiming that there were two levels of happiness - one derived from sensual or physical pleasures and the other from those of the mind. Mill argued passionately that it is better to be “Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.” He also emphasised the importance of love or private affections as being an important factor in happiness, something that Bentham seemed uninterested in. One of the best passages in the book I think is where Mill says “Genuine private affections, and a sincere interest in the public good, are possible, though in unequal degrees, to every rightly brought up human being. In a world in which there is so much to interest, so much to enjoy, and also so much to correct and improve, every one who has this moderate amount of moral and intellectual requisites is capable of an existence which may be called enviable.”

It is a thought provoking book and aimed at the ordinary person rather than at an academic which makes it very readable despite its age. (the collection of essays was first published in together in 1861 although some of Bentham’s writings first appeared in 1789.) Although Utilitarians were considered radicals in their time, their views on the liberty of the individual and the right of all people, whatever their station in life, to enjoy a happy life is something that we mostly take for granted now yet their influence has profoundly shaped our society particularly in the area of law, economics and of course philosophy.