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Utilitarianism Flashcards

John Stuart Mill · Public domain edition · 30 cards · 9 chapters

John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism defends the Greatest Happiness Principle as the foundation of morality and addresses common objections to the doctrine. The cards cover Mill's definition of utility, his distinction between higher and lower pleasures, his treatment of self-sacrifice and motive, and his critique of Kant.

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Chapter 1 · Question

What does Mill say about the progress of the controversy over the criterion of right and wrong?

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CHAPTER I.4 cards

  1. What does Mill say about the progress of the controversy over the criterion of right and wrong?

    Mill argues that after more than two thousand years the same discussions continue: philosophers remain ranged under the same contending banners, and neither thinkers nor mankind seem nearer to unanimity than when Socrates asserted utilitarianism against the popular morality of the sophist. He calls this little progress significant of the backward state of speculation on the most important subjects.

    Chapter 1

  2. How does Mill compare first principles in science to roots of a tree?

    Mill argues the truths ultimately accepted as first principles of a science are really the last results of metaphysical analysis, and their relation to the science is not that of foundations to an edifice but of roots to a tree, which may perform their office equally well though never dug down to and exposed to light. Detailed doctrines are not usually deduced from first principles.

    Chapter 1

  3. What does Mill say about the moral faculty held by the intuitive school?

    Mill says that believers in a moral instinct with any pretensions to philosophy have abandoned the idea that it discerns right or wrong in the particular case, as other senses discern the present sight or sound. The moral faculty supplies only general principles of moral judgments; it is a branch of reason, not of the sensitive faculty, and must be looked to for abstract doctrines, not concrete perception.

    Chapter 1

  4. What criticism does Mill make of Kant's first principle in the Metaphysics of Ethics?

    Mill says Kant lays down the universal principle 'So act, that the rule on which thou actest would admit of being adopted as a law by all rational beings,' but when deducing actual duties from it, fails almost grotesquely to show any contradiction in the universal adoption of outrageously immoral rules. All Kant shows is that the consequences of their universal adoption would be such as no one would choose to incur.

    Chapter 1

CHAPTER II. (part 1)4 cards

  1. How does Mill define the Greatest Happiness Principle?

    Mill states that the creed accepting Utility, or the Greatest Happiness Principle, holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, and wrong as they tend to produce the reverse. By happiness he means pleasure and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain and the privation of pleasure. Pleasure and freedom from pain are the only things desirable as ends, and all other desirable things are desirable for their own pleasure or as means to pleasure and the prevention of pain.

    Chapter 2

  2. How does Mill answer the charge that utilitarianism is a doctrine worthy only of swine?

    Mill replies that the accusers, not the Epicureans, degrade human nature, since the charge assumes humans can enjoy only the pleasures swine enjoy. If that were true the charge would not be an imputation. But humans have higher faculties than animal appetites, and once conscious of them do not regard anything as happiness that excludes their gratification. Epicurean theory assigns much higher value to pleasures of intellect, feeling, imagination, and moral sentiment than to mere sensation.

    Chapter 2

  3. What test does Mill give for one pleasure being higher in quality than another?

    Mill says that of two pleasures, if all or almost all who have experience of both give a decided preference, irrespective of any feeling of moral obligation to prefer it, that is the more desirable pleasure. If competent judges prefer one so far above the other that they would not resign it for any quantity of the other, its superiority in quality outweighs quantity. The judgment of those qualified by knowledge of both, or a majority of them, is final.

    Chapter 2

  4. Why does Mill claim it is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied?

    Mill argues the being with higher faculties may suffer more and be less easily satisfied, but would not sink to a lower grade of existence, attributing this to a sense of dignity essential to their happiness. He distinguishes happiness from contentment: the low-capacity being is more likely fully satisfied, but the higher being knows both sides of the comparison. The fool or pig, if of a different opinion, only knows their own side.

    Chapter 2

CHAPTER II. (part 2)4 cards

  1. According to Mill, what does utilitarian morality refuse to admit about self-sacrifice?

    The author argues utilitarian morality recognizes humans can sacrifice their own greatest good for others, but refuses to admit the sacrifice is itself a good. A sacrifice that does not increase or tend to increase total happiness is considered wasted. The only self-renunciation utilitarianism applauds is devotion to the happiness or means of happiness of others, collectively or individually within limits of collective interests.

    Chapter 3

  2. What is the utilitarian standard of right conduct, and how does it relate to the agent's own happiness?

    The author argues the happiness forming the utilitarian standard is not the agent's own happiness but that of all concerned. Between his own happiness and that of others, utilitarianism requires the agent to be as strictly impartial as a disinterested and benevolent spectator. Mill says the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth expresses the complete spirit of utility ethics.

    Chapter 3

  3. How does Mill distinguish the rule of action from the motive of an action?

    The author argues ethics tells us our duties or the test to know them, but no system requires duty be the sole motive of all we do; most actions are done from other motives and rightly so if the rule of duty does not condemn them. Utilitarian moralists affirm the motive has nothing to do with the morality of the action, though much with the worth of the agent.

    Chapter 3

  4. What does Mill say about how much people must focus on the world's good rather than individuals' good?

    The author argues it is a misapprehension to think utilitarianism implies people should fix their minds on the world or society at large. Most good actions are intended for individuals, of which the world's good is made up. Only those whose influence extends to society generally need habitually concern themselves with so large an object; public benefactors are exceptional.

    Chapter 3

CHAPTER II. (part 3)3 cards

  1. Why does Mill say the rule of veracity admits exceptions?

    Mill holds that truthfulness is a rule of transcendent expediency, since reliance on human assertion supports social well-being. Yet he says all moralists acknowledge possible exceptions, chiefly when withholding a fact—such as information from a malefactor or bad news from a dangerously ill person—would preserve someone from great unmerited evil, and when withholding can only be done by denial. The exception should be recognized and its limits defined.

    Chapter 4

  2. How does Mill answer the objection that there is no time to calculate utility before acting?

    Mill replies that mankind has had the whole past duration of the species to learn by experience the tendencies of actions, and on that experience all prudence and morality depend. Received moral rules are those accumulated beliefs, valid for the multitude and for the philosopher until he finds better ones. He compares this to sailors using a pre-calculated Nautical Almanack rather than computing astronomy at sea.

    Chapter 4

  3. What role do secondary principles play in Mill's utilitarianism?

    Mill argues that accepting happiness as the first principle of morality does not forbid subordinate rules; we need secondary principles to apply it, just as a traveller needs landmarks and direction-posts. Only when secondary principles conflict must first principles be appealed to. Mill admits the received ethical code is not divine and admits indefinite improvement, but denies that this means testing each individual action directly by the first principle.

    Chapter 4

CHAPTER III.1 cards

  1. What two kinds of sanctions does Mill identify for the principle of utility?

    Mill divides sanctions into external and internal. External sanctions include hope of favour and fear of displeasure from fellow creatures or the Ruler of the Universe, plus sympathy, affection, love and awe inclining us to do His will. The internal sanction is a feeling in our own mind—pain attending violation of duty—which, when disinterested and connected with the pure idea of duty, is the essence of Conscience.

    Chapter 5

CHAPTER IV.4 cards

  1. What is the only possible evidence that something is desirable, according to Mill?

    Mill argues that just as the only proof an object is visible is that people actually see it, and the only proof a sound is audible is that people hear it, the sole evidence that anything is desirable is that people do actually desire it. He concludes that happiness has made out its title as one of the ends of conduct and a criterion of morality.

    Chapter 6

  2. How does Mill answer the objection that people desire virtue for its own sake?

    Mill denies utilitarianism rejects the love of virtue. He argues virtue is originally a means to happiness but, through association, can become desired disinterestedly as a part of happiness itself. The utilitarian standard requires cultivating this love of virtue as strongly as possible, since it is above all things important to the general happiness.

    Chapter 6

  3. What examples does Mill give of means that become desired for themselves?

    Mill cites the love of money: originally worth only what it buys, yet often desired more strongly than the things it purchases, becoming part of the end. He also names power and fame, whose attraction rests largely on the aid they give to other wishes. In each case the means becomes part of the individual's conception of happiness.

    Chapter 6

  4. How does Mill distinguish will from desire?

    Mill admits will is a different thing from desire: though originally an offshoot of desire, it can take root and detach, so that with habitual purposes we often desire a thing only because we will it. He attributes this to the power of habit, which operates in virtuous and indifferent actions alike, and insists the distinction is an authentic psychological fact.

    Chapter 6

CHAPTER V. (part 1)2 cards

  1. Why does Mill think a natural feeling of justice does not settle its authority?

    Mill argues there is no necessary connexion between a sentiment's origin and its binding force. A feeling bestowed by Nature does not legitimate all its promptings; the feeling of justice might be a peculiar instinct requiring, like other instincts, to be controlled and enlightened by a higher reason. Wrong judgments may come from intellectual instincts as wrong actions come from animal ones.

    Chapter 7

  2. How does Mill treat impartiality and equality as parts of justice?

    Mill says impartiality is not a duty in itself but instrumental to another duty; favour toward family or friends is generally not censured, and impartiality where rights are concerned is already covered by giving each his right. Equality often enters into justice, but notions of it vary with each person's view of utility—even slave countries admit equal protection of such rights as slaves have.

    Chapter 7

CHAPTER V. (part 2)4 cards

  1. How does Mill distinguish duties of perfect and imperfect obligation?

    Mill adopts the jurists' precise language: duties of perfect obligation are those in virtue of which a correlative right resides in some person or persons; duties of imperfect obligation are moral obligations that give birth to no right. He argues this distinction exactly coincides with that between justice and the other obligations of morality, such as charity or beneficence.

    Chapter 8

  2. What two elements does Mill say compose the sentiment of justice?

    Mill identifies two essential ingredients: the desire to punish a person who has done harm, and the knowledge or belief that some definite individual or individuals have been harmed. The desire to punish he derives from self-defence and sympathy; what is moral in the sentiment is its subordination to social sympathies, so it acts only in directions conformable to the general good.

    Chapter 8

  3. What does Mill mean when he says a person has a right to something?

    Mill holds that to have a right is to have something which society ought to defend one in the possession of, whether by law or by education and opinion. His example: a person has a right to what he can earn in fair professional competition, but not to three hundred a year merely because he happens to earn it; a holder of stock does have a right to that income.

    Chapter 8

  4. Why does Mill say the interest in security makes justice feel absolute?

    Mill argues security is the most vital of all interests: nearly all other benefits can be foregone or replaced, but without security we depend on nothing for immunity from evil or the value of any good beyond the passing moment. Because the claim to security is so indispensable, the difference in degree of feeling becomes a difference in kind, so 'ought' grows into 'must.'

    Chapter 8

CHAPTER V. (part 3)4 cards

  1. How does Mill resolve conflicts between competing principles of justice, such as in cooperative remuneration?

    Mill argues that when appeals to justice conflict—as over whether talent deserves superior remuneration—each side is unanswerable from its own point of view, and any choice on grounds of justice alone must be arbitrary. He concludes that social utility alone can decide the preference between such irreconcilable standards.

    Chapter 9

  2. What three standards of justice does Mill cite in debates over taxation?

    Mill identifies numerical proportion to pecuniary means, graduated taxation taking a higher percentage from those with more to spare, and an equal absolute sum from everyone regardless of means. He notes the equal-sum view finds no advocates because it conflicts with humanity and social expediency, though its principle of justice is as binding as the others.

    Chapter 9

  3. According to Mill, what distinguishes justice from expediency and makes it more sacred?

    Mill denies the distinction is imaginary. He argues justice names moral rules concerning the essentials of human well-being more nearly than other rules, and so carries more absolute obligation. Chief among these are rules forbidding humans to hurt one another, including wrongful interference with freedom, which preserve peace and are the main element in social feelings.

    Chapter 9

  4. How does Mill connect the principle of utility to equality and impartiality?

    Mill argues the Greatest-Happiness Principle is meaningless unless one person's happiness, equal in degree, counts exactly as much as another's, citing Bentham's dictum 'everybody to count for one, nobody for more than one.' He holds all persons have a right to equal treatment except when recognised social expediency requires otherwise.

    Chapter 9

Source and licence

Text used: Project Gutenberg eBook #11224 (Public domain in the United States). Generated from the full text; cards paraphrase the source.

Version: Public domain edition. Retrieved 2026-10-18. Cards reviewed 2026-10-18.

These cards paraphrase the text for study. They are not a substitute for reading the book, and they do not reproduce long passages.

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