John Stuart Mill s Qualitative Hedonism Essay - 1350 Words

In this hypothetical, two options are given. A person may choose from being reincarnated as Haydn, a famous musical composer, for 77 years. Or one may live as an Oyster, and decide for themselves however long they want to live. An oyster would experience unlimited years of a feeling that is near that of floating drunk in a bathtub. As Haydn, a person would experience the highs and the lows of life. Haydn composed many symphonies, and was a celebrity in his day as a musical composer. With being famous and influential, comes low times and struggles as well. The decision is between a painless life of small satisfaction, or a mix between extreme satisfaction and extreme lows. Two well-known philosophers have very different thought processes, when it comes to this thought experiment. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are their names. I side with John Stuart Mill’s qualitative hedonism. I believe that his theory is more plausible. I believe this because in my life I have encounte red the joy of higher pleasure and am certain it is much better than that of a lower pleasure. Jeremy Bentham’s quantitative hedonism is a viewpoint that quantity, intensity, and duration of pleasures determines the value of that pleasure. Bentham argues that happiness is the ultimate good. He argues that the definition of happiness is pleasure accompanied by an avoidance of pain. Jeremy Bentham believed that creating the greatest combined happiness was the key to correct moral behavior.Show MoreRelatedUtilitarianism : Bentham And Mill766 Words   |  4 PagesBentham VS. Mill Utilitarianism is a normative ethical theory that holds the morally right course of action in any given situation is the course of which yields the greatest balance of benefits over harms. More specifically, utilitarianism’s core idea is that the effects of an action determine whether actions are morally right or wrong. Created with philosophies of Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), Utilitarianism began in England in the 19th Century. Bentham and Mill builtRead MoreJohn Stuart Mill s Definition Of Quality975 Words   |  4 Pages John Stuart Mill’s definition of quality can be broken-down distinctively into four separate definitions. When evaluating pleasures, J. S. Mill alleged the quality of particular pleasures is determined by how much pleasure the person obtains from the pleasure, in addition to, how just the pleasure is beneficially to society. Moreover, Mill argued against â€Å"†¦Bentham’s purely quantitative view of pleasure. Without denying that quantity is a consideration in the calculation of pleasure, Mill believedRead More Immanuel Kants Ethics Of Pure Duty and John Stuart Mills Utilitarian Ethics Of Justice2753 Words   |  12 PagesImmanuel Kants The Grounding For The Metaphysics of Morals and John Stuart Mills Utilitarianism Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill are philosophers who addressed the issues of morality in terms of how moral traditions are formed. Immanuel Kant has presented one viewpoint in The Grounding For The Metaphysics of Morals that is founded on his belief that the worth of man is inherent in his ability to reason. John Stuart Mill holds another opinion as presented in the book, Utilitarianism thatRead MoreMoral Judgements Are Morally Wrong?2025 Words   |  9 PagesThis also means that actions need to present the most overall good for all and not just a single person. John Stuart Mill, a nineteenth century British philosopher, would agree with the utilitarian approach by arguing that actions are deemed morally permissible if they will make more people happy than any other alternative course of action. In this paper, I will contrast Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill’s ethical theories, and then argue that Mill’s view of utilitarianism is the stronger of the twoRead More A Case Study Depicting the Importance of Ethics in Medicine Essay4544 Words   |  19 Pagesweighing advantages to disadvantages (Seedhouse, 2009; Hope et al, 2009). Aristotle and Plato shared a common view in asserting that egoistic hedonism is when a person engages in moral action by acting in his or her own best interest (Thompson, 2000). The ethical theory of utilitarianism was developed by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806- 1873) (Hendrick, 2001; Thompson, 2000; Beauchamp Childress, 2009). According to Bentham’s theory of utilitarianism, the moral action to