John Stuart Mill’s theory of utilitarianism

John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, and he believed in utilitarianism. He believes that actions should be defined as morally right or morally wrong. Utilitarianism follows some parts of the intrinsic value theory. The intrinsic value theory is when people tend to be good because they often want to avoid the bad. Happiness is believed to be the equilibrium for pleasure over pain. They also produce two alternative actions to deiced which one has better consequences. He saw that there is always some type of motivation for our actions; in fact, we are always looking for happiness.

Although doing things that lead to negative consequences are bad such as lying and stealing, it does not always cause much harm when it is done occasionally. For example, lying to avoid embarrassment or stealing from the wealthy would not ruin someones life. However, this could cause to lose someones trust and security. To avoid this from happening, a rule was made in utilitarianism. This rule allows to determine if an act was ethical by determining if it is a general practice. If it is a general practice, then they are morally wrong. If it is not a general practice, then they are not morally wrong.

Stuart believed that people should chose to do actions that are going to benefit and help a large amount of people. This is because the more bad you do, the more people will suffer as a consequence from your actions. An example for a morally wrong thing to do is stealing from the poor. An example for a morally right thing to do is donating to the poor. Donating helps the people in poverty while stealing only leads them to suffer with insufficient amount of resources. Helping a large amount of people is a very important practice in utilitarianism.

Being happy is a major goal in utilitarianism. When you’re happy and make others around you happy, everyone is happy, which is the ultimate goal. raising the total amount of happiness that each one of these values can provide will contribute to happiness overall. A famous quote by Stuart is “The utilitarian morality does recognise in human beings the power of sacrificing their own greatest good for the good of others. It only refuses to admit that the sacrifice is itself a good. A sacrifice which does not increase, or tend to increase, the sum total of happiness, it considers