2 Philosophy Questions

Question

1. State J.S Mill’s “ Greatest Happiness Principle”. Is his definition of happiness an adequate one?
2. What is the concept of the “impartial spectator?” Do you think that all of our moral reasoning should take into consideration the good of the whole? Do people tend to act as disinterested spectators or more sel-interested?

Answer 1

John Stuart Mill and other utilitarian philosophers such as Jeremy Bentham, who invented the Greatest Happiness Principle, believed that happiness was a major factor in morality. The Greatest Happiness Principle reflects this, as any action that promotes happiness is seen as good and moral. Any action that promotes the opposite of happiness, pain, is seen as immoral and bad. Mill believed that happiness was "Pleasure with the absence of pain." This is an adequate definition of happiness because one cannot be happy and feel the antithesis of happiness, which is suffering and pain, at once.