Final assignment, on John Stuart Mill in regards to a Morally Just Society
Crystal McCann
Alexander Izrailevsky
Philosophy 1000
April 4th, 2012
How the Philosophies of John S. Mill can be applied to create a Just Society
He lived from 1806-1873. During this time the social and cultural conditions of Britain were in a transitioning period. The government had such power and limitations against the people, that modern Utilitarianism was constructed as a result of social conditions; to perhaps reduce the power of the dictatorship for the best interest of the people (majority) rather than provide utmost power for the (minority) ie; King, government, etc. According to Dictionary.refrence.com, Utilitarianism by definition is, “The ethical doctrine that virtue is based on Utility and that conduct should be directed toward promoting the greatest happiness of the greatest number of persons.”
John Stuart Mill, born into a family of a professional philosopher; his father, James Mill; there is no doubt that when his father asked Jeremy Bentham to father his son, John, as well as to help him make his son become a genius that John Stuart Mill would be raised with the influences and education of what was going on within society during that time, he was extremely educated, and was considered the most educated guy in the world by age 25. I believe that this played a huge part in the type of Philosopher he became. He was especially brilliant at Mathematics and Political science, the ability to calculate can provide an extreme capability to reason things out, put them into perspective, likewise Political Science.
In my paper I would like to point out how the philosophies of John Stuart Mill can be applied to create a Just society. In John Stuart Mills Essay on Liberty Mill states, “The object of this essay is to assert one very simple principal as entitled to govern absolutely the dealing of society within the individual in the way of compulsion and control whether the means used to be physical in the form of legal penalties or the moral coercion of public opinion, that principal is: “The soul end for which man kind are warranted in interfering with the liberty or action of someone is self-protection.” However, he goes on to state that “if you are unable to take care of yourself, such as; a child, or an old person who cannot take care of themselves, then you can interfere with their actions. “
If we lived in such a society, we wouldn't have as much violence, repression and jealousy. Take religion in Utah for example, we are held a limitation where alcohol consumption is concerned; our human right to drink alcohol which consists of content higher than 3.2% is revoked. Our human right to marry as a tax paying Homosexual is revoked, even though, according to Divorce.com, 49% of marriages in the US end in divorce now-a-days, their human right to marry are revoked. To this day, in my opinion the rights of women’s equal pay to men is still not 50-50, there are still several undocumented cases where people are treated unjustly and their rights are being violated without them even knowing it is happening and the United States is a prime example. We only see as far as our nose when it comes to our civil liberties on unlimited issues. So, where would the idea of Utilitarianism come in and balance this out? We have these prime examples laid out for us, what are the outcomes? Rebelling against our government to get alcohol of higher content, because everyone outside of Utah has that right, also as a result of the revocation of our human right to marry; more homosexual men and women, marrying other members of the same-sex, or people outside of the United states in trade for citizenship the homosexual American obtains the same tax rights as everyone else, we have a higher number of hate-crimes as a result of persecution due to race, sexual identity, religious background, etc. If people were to do as they wish and let others do as they wish, so long as they as no harming anyone
If we lived in a society where we could exercise our rights jealousy wouldn't be a prevalent because they themselves would have the right to freedom, there would be less a reason to envy someone because you have the right to your individual freedoms, same with hatred and repression. If we were provided with such freedoms, we wouldn't have as many reasons to rebel or cause violence upon others. When someone is treated as an untrustworthy, unreliable child, they by my personal observation of humanity in turn become untrustworthy, unreliable child; which in turn is counter-productive.
The idea of Hedonism, morality based on pleasure and happiness; if everyone universally did what made them happy, again we wouldn't have envy, jealousy hatred, etc. The when people are happy they have no reason to be violent, they aren't going to murder someone because they are jealous of their freedom to be happy, because they too will be doing whatever makes them happy as well. If we include Cultural Hedonism, which states that; the more my pleasure is cultural and sophisticated the more moral person I am. How would this apply to building a more Just society? If everyone had equal freedoms to do as they choose and directed their pleasure toward that of cultural, educated, sophisticated realms we would be able to recognize the reasons we agree, or disagree with things, to become a more cultural, educated person would then transform our outlook on society and make us a more open-minded, understanding member of society.
John Stuart Mill believes that it is our responsibility to apply the scientific discoveries to better our social life, that we need sciences to make our life better in society. In my opinion if we did this the outcome would be a more Just society. One of my favorite of Mills philosophies is that of Moral Relativism. Living in the United States we are a country of many cultures, within these cultures come many beliefs, and many truths. What is moral in one culture, may be immoral to another; hence why Culture Hedonism and education is so important. Say for example in Muslim culture it is morally justifiable as a woman to wear a Hijab (scarf) to cover her adornment when she is in public, as part of her religious culture. However in other cultures they may consider women in a scarf as a form of objectification and sexual discrimination. Hence, there are many different types of individuals living on this planet and many social norms.
If a Heroin addict wanted to spend their entire life using Heroin, while never harming a fly, would it be moral to stop him? Stating that it is not in his best interest, and you want him to stop using because you think it is what would be best for him. John Stuart Mill would say, no. He is fulfilling his own personal hedonism. How would doing this create a more Just society? Because morally the Heroin addict shoots up and passes out, he’s not harming anyone but himself and though we may feel he is harming himself, he may be happy doing so, and what one person thinks is harmful, another may believe it makes them happy. Thus we would be in breaching on someone else’s personal Happiness. If we were to take away the Heroin addicts happiness, he could rebel and start shooting everyone because he is having withdraws and is upset because someone took away what made him happy, thus creating unjustifiable anarchy. We in the United States seem to be quite notorious for applying our own personal ideas of what it is to be moral, or what we feel will make someone happy in the long run, by revoking their freedom of happiness; “because we know what is best for them.” Clearly the Heroin addict example is a bit extreme, however consider again Homosexuality and religion; what is the number one largest excuse for the limitations placed on homosexual freedoms? In my opinion, Religion; why do I feel this way? Any time Homosexuality is muttered, the word, “Sin” is to follow. So because one social group doesn't believe that it is ok for another group to have their freedom of happiness based upon their idea of what is and is not morally justifiable. Take Female to Male ratio in certain job markets and sports; the words, “We don’t think it’s the right fit for you, or we don’t think it’s safe for you” again, revoking someone’s Happiness based upon another persons personal beliefs. If we were to allow each individual their right to the freedom of their own personal happiness, so long as they as not harming anyone, I believe we would become a morally just society, because we would not feel that we are being treated as second class citizens, or that we are less important than the next guy, or that in order to obtain the freedom of happiness we need to break the laws that are put in front of us to limit our self-respect, and self-worth, by demoralizing us because we have been striped by our personal rights as a human being.
If we paid attention only to what is going on within our own backyards and let our neighbors do the same and enjoy happiness within our own lives, Mills philosophies would prove to pave the road for a morally Just society. We would still need some form of Government, and the amount of pain vs. pleasure would change drastically because everyone would be in their own world of freedom and happiness. With freedom, reduces anger, and without anger we reduce violence and without violence we encounter productiveness, and with productiveness, produces results, and results create happiness, and universal happiness produces peacefulness and peacefulness results in a morally Just society.
Mill states that “We need Religion so that we know how to behave morally.” I, as an agnostic as well would agree that though we have an abundance of Religious fanatics, we are much better off than to do away with religion completely for the same purpose. Religion keeps people moral; without religion in my opinion we would have world-wide anarchy, because people need to be told what to do and how to behave as a moral person. Someone can know right from wrong, and still commit murder, because they don’t have that fear of “Hell” or the wrath of “God” because of this, religion plays an extremely important role in maintaining a functional society, likewise with Government; many Governments may abuse their rights in their position, however without it we would have unbelievable chaos more devastating than the human mind could ever fathom.
Another of Mills ideas as stated in Utilitarianism, that “Life has no higher-end than pleasure/happiness.” Once again, I would have to agree, everything we do in life, weather conscious or unconsciously is to fulfill our own pleasure and happiness. If we could gain happiness without having to work for a living and things we just given to us, we would have a society of lazy people, and because they didn't earn their happiness, they would be miserable. However, we work toward goals, at our jobs, work out at gyms, go on vacations, dates, get married and have kids all to fulfill our own pleasure/happiness. I would also like to propose the idea that this isn't just limited to human-beings, but to animals as well; take for example our common ancestor; apes if you ever to sit and watch an ape and how it interacts, they also appear live as they do with the end goal being pleasure/ happiness. However, unlike Human beings apes have the freedom of happiness without boundaries.
It is proven just by taking a look around at the people you know personally, who are bored with life and have no form of life enjoyment that Mills idea of, “Lacking sufficient life enjoyment, to make it valuable to them; generally causes selfishness.” You have no motivation, no goals in sight, God forbid you lack life enjoyment and mental cultivation; you would then become a vegetable, a selfish unhappy head of lettuce. However provide this person with an idea or something to look forward to, you then create a sense of Mental Cultivation and as Mill quotes, “You open the Fountains of the mind, you can facilitate it, once facilitated, you can find sources of interest in all that surrounds you.” This in my opinion is a major problem we have in current society and a major reason; I feel that we need to focus more on our individual pleasure and happiness. Perhaps we wouldn't have such a high unemployment rate, such violence, reality television shows which consists of; people beating each other up for entertainment. Perhaps people would, if mentally cultivated go so far as finding a hobby, that is useful, educational and sophisticated, thus creating a more Just society. Then we have to step back and ask ourselves, ‘where does Utilitarian Calculus fit in?’ Sure, if everyone was mentally cultivated we may have a fighting chance toward a more Just society, but what about the people who take pleasure in being a lazy, selfish head of lettuce? They’re not harming anyone, right? We would have to as Mill states in Utilitarianism, “Assess the results of a particular action”, and say, “How many people would be happier watching daytime television, eating unhealthy fatty-foods and never working another day in their life, enjoying their freedom of being a vegetable?” The answer is, I don’t know and I don’t care, because that is what they choose to do to be happy, and as long as they are not harming me by doing what gives them pleasure, they are not interfering with whether I live in a morally Just society. If we all did what we wanted and what truly made us happy, no one would have anything to be unhappy about.
In conclusion, I would like to touch on how John Stuart Mill has influenced us in modern society. I believed that his philosophies have influenced us to think more about how portray our personally happiness and how we utilize this, as well as our outlook on not only society and their free will, but our own inner happiness. We utilize our freedom and look at it from an abstract point of view, though we in my opinion do not exercise our rights against violation by the minorities, ie; corrupt governments etc. We do the best we can with what we have to work with, and as time progresses I notice more and more people choosing to exercise their, pleasure/happiness to the highest good. He has definitely made an impact on the way that we operate as a society, and I believe he will continue to.
In John Stuart Mills – Utilitarianism and the speech on Capital Punishment 2nd Ed. Mill quotes, “Supplementary explanations do not affect the theory of life on which this theory of morality is grounded – namely, the pleasure and freedom from pain are the only things desirable as ends; and that all desirable things (which are as numerous in the utilitarian as in any other scheme) are desirable either for pleasure inherent in themselves or as means to the promotion of pleasure and the prevention of pain.”
I feel this quote sums up my idea that provided the freedom of happiness, we have a great chance at becoming, or at least reaching several steps closer to forming a morally Just society.
Work Cited
Mill, John Stuart. Essay On Liberty.
Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism and the 1868 Speech on Capital Punishment. 2nd.
Soccio, Douglas. Archetypes of wisdom. 7. 341-363.
White, James. Contemporary Moral Problems. 9th.
"Why Hijab?." n.pag. Web. 4 Apr 2012. <www.al-islam.org>.
Reading/Discussion of John Stuart Mill - On liberty. Dir. MrCropper. Film/youtube.com
Worldwide divorce statistics." n.d. n. page. Web. 4 Apr. 2012. <Divorce.com>.
"Department of alcoholic beverage control." Frequently asked questions. n.d. n. page. Web. 5 Apr. 2012. <abc.Utah.gov>.
“Utilitarianism - Dictionary.refrence.com”
Alexander Izrailevsky
Philosophy 1000
April 4th, 2012
How the Philosophies of John S. Mill can be applied to create a Just Society
He lived from 1806-1873. During this time the social and cultural conditions of Britain were in a transitioning period. The government had such power and limitations against the people, that modern Utilitarianism was constructed as a result of social conditions; to perhaps reduce the power of the dictatorship for the best interest of the people (majority) rather than provide utmost power for the (minority) ie; King, government, etc. According to Dictionary.refrence.com, Utilitarianism by definition is, “The ethical doctrine that virtue is based on Utility and that conduct should be directed toward promoting the greatest happiness of the greatest number of persons.”
John Stuart Mill, born into a family of a professional philosopher; his father, James Mill; there is no doubt that when his father asked Jeremy Bentham to father his son, John, as well as to help him make his son become a genius that John Stuart Mill would be raised with the influences and education of what was going on within society during that time, he was extremely educated, and was considered the most educated guy in the world by age 25. I believe that this played a huge part in the type of Philosopher he became. He was especially brilliant at Mathematics and Political science, the ability to calculate can provide an extreme capability to reason things out, put them into perspective, likewise Political Science.
In my paper I would like to point out how the philosophies of John Stuart Mill can be applied to create a Just society. In John Stuart Mills Essay on Liberty Mill states, “The object of this essay is to assert one very simple principal as entitled to govern absolutely the dealing of society within the individual in the way of compulsion and control whether the means used to be physical in the form of legal penalties or the moral coercion of public opinion, that principal is: “The soul end for which man kind are warranted in interfering with the liberty or action of someone is self-protection.” However, he goes on to state that “if you are unable to take care of yourself, such as; a child, or an old person who cannot take care of themselves, then you can interfere with their actions. “
If we lived in such a society, we wouldn't have as much violence, repression and jealousy. Take religion in Utah for example, we are held a limitation where alcohol consumption is concerned; our human right to drink alcohol which consists of content higher than 3.2% is revoked. Our human right to marry as a tax paying Homosexual is revoked, even though, according to Divorce.com, 49% of marriages in the US end in divorce now-a-days, their human right to marry are revoked. To this day, in my opinion the rights of women’s equal pay to men is still not 50-50, there are still several undocumented cases where people are treated unjustly and their rights are being violated without them even knowing it is happening and the United States is a prime example. We only see as far as our nose when it comes to our civil liberties on unlimited issues. So, where would the idea of Utilitarianism come in and balance this out? We have these prime examples laid out for us, what are the outcomes? Rebelling against our government to get alcohol of higher content, because everyone outside of Utah has that right, also as a result of the revocation of our human right to marry; more homosexual men and women, marrying other members of the same-sex, or people outside of the United states in trade for citizenship the homosexual American obtains the same tax rights as everyone else, we have a higher number of hate-crimes as a result of persecution due to race, sexual identity, religious background, etc. If people were to do as they wish and let others do as they wish, so long as they as no harming anyone
If we lived in a society where we could exercise our rights jealousy wouldn't be a prevalent because they themselves would have the right to freedom, there would be less a reason to envy someone because you have the right to your individual freedoms, same with hatred and repression. If we were provided with such freedoms, we wouldn't have as many reasons to rebel or cause violence upon others. When someone is treated as an untrustworthy, unreliable child, they by my personal observation of humanity in turn become untrustworthy, unreliable child; which in turn is counter-productive.
The idea of Hedonism, morality based on pleasure and happiness; if everyone universally did what made them happy, again we wouldn't have envy, jealousy hatred, etc. The when people are happy they have no reason to be violent, they aren't going to murder someone because they are jealous of their freedom to be happy, because they too will be doing whatever makes them happy as well. If we include Cultural Hedonism, which states that; the more my pleasure is cultural and sophisticated the more moral person I am. How would this apply to building a more Just society? If everyone had equal freedoms to do as they choose and directed their pleasure toward that of cultural, educated, sophisticated realms we would be able to recognize the reasons we agree, or disagree with things, to become a more cultural, educated person would then transform our outlook on society and make us a more open-minded, understanding member of society.
John Stuart Mill believes that it is our responsibility to apply the scientific discoveries to better our social life, that we need sciences to make our life better in society. In my opinion if we did this the outcome would be a more Just society. One of my favorite of Mills philosophies is that of Moral Relativism. Living in the United States we are a country of many cultures, within these cultures come many beliefs, and many truths. What is moral in one culture, may be immoral to another; hence why Culture Hedonism and education is so important. Say for example in Muslim culture it is morally justifiable as a woman to wear a Hijab (scarf) to cover her adornment when she is in public, as part of her religious culture. However in other cultures they may consider women in a scarf as a form of objectification and sexual discrimination. Hence, there are many different types of individuals living on this planet and many social norms.
If a Heroin addict wanted to spend their entire life using Heroin, while never harming a fly, would it be moral to stop him? Stating that it is not in his best interest, and you want him to stop using because you think it is what would be best for him. John Stuart Mill would say, no. He is fulfilling his own personal hedonism. How would doing this create a more Just society? Because morally the Heroin addict shoots up and passes out, he’s not harming anyone but himself and though we may feel he is harming himself, he may be happy doing so, and what one person thinks is harmful, another may believe it makes them happy. Thus we would be in breaching on someone else’s personal Happiness. If we were to take away the Heroin addicts happiness, he could rebel and start shooting everyone because he is having withdraws and is upset because someone took away what made him happy, thus creating unjustifiable anarchy. We in the United States seem to be quite notorious for applying our own personal ideas of what it is to be moral, or what we feel will make someone happy in the long run, by revoking their freedom of happiness; “because we know what is best for them.” Clearly the Heroin addict example is a bit extreme, however consider again Homosexuality and religion; what is the number one largest excuse for the limitations placed on homosexual freedoms? In my opinion, Religion; why do I feel this way? Any time Homosexuality is muttered, the word, “Sin” is to follow. So because one social group doesn't believe that it is ok for another group to have their freedom of happiness based upon their idea of what is and is not morally justifiable. Take Female to Male ratio in certain job markets and sports; the words, “We don’t think it’s the right fit for you, or we don’t think it’s safe for you” again, revoking someone’s Happiness based upon another persons personal beliefs. If we were to allow each individual their right to the freedom of their own personal happiness, so long as they as not harming anyone, I believe we would become a morally just society, because we would not feel that we are being treated as second class citizens, or that we are less important than the next guy, or that in order to obtain the freedom of happiness we need to break the laws that are put in front of us to limit our self-respect, and self-worth, by demoralizing us because we have been striped by our personal rights as a human being.
If we paid attention only to what is going on within our own backyards and let our neighbors do the same and enjoy happiness within our own lives, Mills philosophies would prove to pave the road for a morally Just society. We would still need some form of Government, and the amount of pain vs. pleasure would change drastically because everyone would be in their own world of freedom and happiness. With freedom, reduces anger, and without anger we reduce violence and without violence we encounter productiveness, and with productiveness, produces results, and results create happiness, and universal happiness produces peacefulness and peacefulness results in a morally Just society.
Mill states that “We need Religion so that we know how to behave morally.” I, as an agnostic as well would agree that though we have an abundance of Religious fanatics, we are much better off than to do away with religion completely for the same purpose. Religion keeps people moral; without religion in my opinion we would have world-wide anarchy, because people need to be told what to do and how to behave as a moral person. Someone can know right from wrong, and still commit murder, because they don’t have that fear of “Hell” or the wrath of “God” because of this, religion plays an extremely important role in maintaining a functional society, likewise with Government; many Governments may abuse their rights in their position, however without it we would have unbelievable chaos more devastating than the human mind could ever fathom.
Another of Mills ideas as stated in Utilitarianism, that “Life has no higher-end than pleasure/happiness.” Once again, I would have to agree, everything we do in life, weather conscious or unconsciously is to fulfill our own pleasure and happiness. If we could gain happiness without having to work for a living and things we just given to us, we would have a society of lazy people, and because they didn't earn their happiness, they would be miserable. However, we work toward goals, at our jobs, work out at gyms, go on vacations, dates, get married and have kids all to fulfill our own pleasure/happiness. I would also like to propose the idea that this isn't just limited to human-beings, but to animals as well; take for example our common ancestor; apes if you ever to sit and watch an ape and how it interacts, they also appear live as they do with the end goal being pleasure/ happiness. However, unlike Human beings apes have the freedom of happiness without boundaries.
It is proven just by taking a look around at the people you know personally, who are bored with life and have no form of life enjoyment that Mills idea of, “Lacking sufficient life enjoyment, to make it valuable to them; generally causes selfishness.” You have no motivation, no goals in sight, God forbid you lack life enjoyment and mental cultivation; you would then become a vegetable, a selfish unhappy head of lettuce. However provide this person with an idea or something to look forward to, you then create a sense of Mental Cultivation and as Mill quotes, “You open the Fountains of the mind, you can facilitate it, once facilitated, you can find sources of interest in all that surrounds you.” This in my opinion is a major problem we have in current society and a major reason; I feel that we need to focus more on our individual pleasure and happiness. Perhaps we wouldn't have such a high unemployment rate, such violence, reality television shows which consists of; people beating each other up for entertainment. Perhaps people would, if mentally cultivated go so far as finding a hobby, that is useful, educational and sophisticated, thus creating a more Just society. Then we have to step back and ask ourselves, ‘where does Utilitarian Calculus fit in?’ Sure, if everyone was mentally cultivated we may have a fighting chance toward a more Just society, but what about the people who take pleasure in being a lazy, selfish head of lettuce? They’re not harming anyone, right? We would have to as Mill states in Utilitarianism, “Assess the results of a particular action”, and say, “How many people would be happier watching daytime television, eating unhealthy fatty-foods and never working another day in their life, enjoying their freedom of being a vegetable?” The answer is, I don’t know and I don’t care, because that is what they choose to do to be happy, and as long as they are not harming me by doing what gives them pleasure, they are not interfering with whether I live in a morally Just society. If we all did what we wanted and what truly made us happy, no one would have anything to be unhappy about.
In conclusion, I would like to touch on how John Stuart Mill has influenced us in modern society. I believed that his philosophies have influenced us to think more about how portray our personally happiness and how we utilize this, as well as our outlook on not only society and their free will, but our own inner happiness. We utilize our freedom and look at it from an abstract point of view, though we in my opinion do not exercise our rights against violation by the minorities, ie; corrupt governments etc. We do the best we can with what we have to work with, and as time progresses I notice more and more people choosing to exercise their, pleasure/happiness to the highest good. He has definitely made an impact on the way that we operate as a society, and I believe he will continue to.
In John Stuart Mills – Utilitarianism and the speech on Capital Punishment 2nd Ed. Mill quotes, “Supplementary explanations do not affect the theory of life on which this theory of morality is grounded – namely, the pleasure and freedom from pain are the only things desirable as ends; and that all desirable things (which are as numerous in the utilitarian as in any other scheme) are desirable either for pleasure inherent in themselves or as means to the promotion of pleasure and the prevention of pain.”
I feel this quote sums up my idea that provided the freedom of happiness, we have a great chance at becoming, or at least reaching several steps closer to forming a morally Just society.
Work Cited
Mill, John Stuart. Essay On Liberty.
Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism and the 1868 Speech on Capital Punishment. 2nd.
Soccio, Douglas. Archetypes of wisdom. 7. 341-363.
White, James. Contemporary Moral Problems. 9th.
"Why Hijab?." n.pag. Web. 4 Apr 2012. <www.al-islam.org>.
Reading/Discussion of John Stuart Mill - On liberty. Dir. MrCropper. Film/youtube.com
Worldwide divorce statistics." n.d. n. page. Web. 4 Apr. 2012. <Divorce.com>.
"Department of alcoholic beverage control." Frequently asked questions. n.d. n. page. Web. 5 Apr. 2012. <abc.Utah.gov>.
“Utilitarianism - Dictionary.refrence.com”