![]() ![]() Fundamentally, utilitarians want to maximize utility, which means the total of human happiness. In the next chapter, Mill gives an overview of the utilitarian doctrine. ![]() Although all ethical theories ultimately have to rely on this principle, only utilitarianism is based on it from the beginning. Mill thinks this theory of value is actually quite simple: everyone, including laypeople and philosophers alike, values happiness and nothing else. He thinks this is because they have failed to clearly specify the first principles of their ethical philosophies-they articulate various second principles about how to act, but never explain the theory of moral value that underlies these principles. This is most apparent in the introduction, in which Mill notes that ethics has long been considered an important subject and yet has produced little agreement among philosophers. ![]() In many instances, however, the book is much more layered and complex: Mill often references other important ethical systems (like Kant’s deontological ethics and Aristotle’s concept of virtue), whose major concepts he thinks utilitarianism explains even better. The stated purpose of John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism is deceptively simple: the author wants to clearly explain his utilitarian ethical philosophy and respond to the most common criticisms of it. ![]()
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