J.S.

MILL’S UTILITARIANISM
ETHICS
1ST SEM, 2022-2023
GENERAL REMARKS

Chapter 1 of Utilitarianism
by John Stuart Mill
 GENERAL REMARKS

In the first chapter of his essay, Mill says

philosophers had since been determining
the basis of morality but has never come to
an agreement on what it truly is.

In science, discussions on law and morality

finds its place to reach consensus.
(Something that philosophers haven’t
achieved for so many years!)
 GENERAL REMARKS

Mill criticizes the theories established by his

predecessors. These include the following:
- Our moral faculty as a branch of reason
and not of our sensitive faculty.
- The authority of a priori principles and
maxims over morality.
- Other doctrines: right and wrong are
questions of observations and
experience.
 GENERAL REMARKS

Mill’s Take:
Our sentiments are greatly influenced by
what they suppose to be the effects of
things upon their happiness, the principle of
utility, or as Bentham called it, the greatest
happiness principle.
 GENERAL REMARKS

Mill’s Take:
I shall, without further discussion of the
other theories, attempt to contribute
something towards the understanding and
appreciation of the Utilitarian or Happiness
theory.
THE TROLLEY
PROBLEM
 WHAT
UTILITARIANISM IS
Chapter 2 of Utilitarianism
by John Stuart Mill
KEY TAKEAWAYS
FROM THE TEXT
Class discussion
 WHAT UTILITARIANISM IS

The creed which accepts as the foundation

of morals, Utility, or the Greatest Happiness
Principle, holds that actions are right in
proportion as they tend to promote
happiness, wrong as they tend to produce
the reverse of happiness. By happiness is
intended pleasure, and the absence of pain;
by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of
pleasure. (p.155)
 WHAT UTILITARIANISM IS

Mill and some lessons from the

Epicureans:
-humans nature involves the fulfillment of feelings
of pleasure
-some pleasures are that of human and of swine (so
it’s wrong to assume that humans going after their
pleasures are comparable to a swine!)
-humans have more faculties than animal appetites
 WHAT UTILITARIANISM IS

Mill and some lessons from the

Epicureans:

“The comparison of the Epicurean life to that of

beasts is felt as degrading, precisely because a
beast’s pleasures do not satisfy a human being’s
conceptions of happiness.”
 WHAT UTILITARIANISM IS

Mill does not think that all pleasures

are alike and pursuing physical
pleasure means forgetting what is
unique about humans.

He distinguishes between higher and

lower pleasures.
 WHAT UTILITARIANISM IS

The higher pleasures are pleasures of the

intellect and noble feelings. These include
things like reading a book and doing
volunteer work. Lower pleasures are
pleasures of the body and animal feelings.
People experience lower pleasures when
they do things like eat a hamburger or get a
massage.
 WHAT UTILITARIANISM IS

Here is what Mill has in mind. A hamburger

tastes good and a massage feels nice. But
they do not involve the elevated pleasures
of reading a pro-vocative book: which
inspires us to consider an interesting topic in
a new or insightful way. Similarly,
volunteering may be hard work but it uplifts
us. We know that we are doing something
morally good and we also feel good about it.
 WHAT UTILITARIANISM IS

Mill thinks that any person who has

experience of both the higher pleasures and
the lower pleasures will support the priority
that he has given to higher pleasures. Now,
it is true that someone who has only
experienced the lower pleasures, such as a
child, might prefer lower pleasures over the
higher pleasures. Mill thinks that people like
this are not good judges of which kind of
pleasure is more valuable, however.
 WHAT UTILITARIANISM IS

To be able to judge which is better, higher

pleasures or lower pleasures, he thinks
that judges must have experienced both
kinds of pleasures. Only then will they be
able to give an opinion on the matter that
others must take seriously.
 WHAT UTILITARIANISM IS

“Few human creatures would

consent to be changed into any
of the lower animals, for a
promise of the fullest allowance
of a beast’s pleasures; no
intelligent human being would
consent to be a fool…”
 SOME POINTS FOR
REFLECTION IN THE
DARK KNIGHT
 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• Provide a scene showing a moral dilemma.

Elaborate.
• What are your thoughts on Batman’s system of
morality? (if you think he has any)
• What kind of a person is the Joker like?
JOKER’S SOCIAL
EXPERIMENT
 Tonight you're all gonna be part of a
social experiment. Through the magic
of diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate,
I'm ready right now to blow you all sky
high. Anyone attempts to get off their
boat, you all die. Each of you has a
remote... to blow up the other boat.
At midnight, I blow you all up. If,
however, one of you presses the
button, I'll let that boat live. So, who's
it going to be: Harvey Dent's most
wanted sc**bag collection, or the
sweet and innocent civilians? You
choose... oh, and you might want to
decide quickly, because the people on
the other boat might not be so noble.
SOME POINTS FOR REFLECTION IN THE DARK KNIGHT

Harvey Dent’s surrender to determinism Joker’s nihilism

BATMAN’S REFUSAL
TO KILL THE JOKER
THE END

The dark knight becomes the villain. He

assumes he is not the hero that the city
needs. The people need someone in who
they can fully put their faith.
OTHER WORKS WITH SIMILAR THEMES

The Death Note is a notebook

granting its user the ability to kill
anyone whose name is written in its
pages.

Its 2003-2006 Manga series was

adapted into an anime television
series in 2006.
OTHER WORKS WITH SIMILAR THEMES

In Episode 21 of the anime series One

Piece, Sanji feeds a starving pirate
named Gin even when his fellow cook
denied Gin of food for his lack of money
to pay for a meal. Gin is a member of a
pirate fleet under Don Krieg, the
strongest pirate in East Blue.
EXISTENTIAL AND MORAL ISSUES THAT THEY COVER
• Freedom
• Meaning and purpose
• God
• Poverty and hunger
• Death penalty
• Preservation of human life
-end of presentation-

STAY SAFE

Prepared by:
Chloe Nicole D. Piamonte