From the library
Utilitarianism
John Stuart Mill, 1863
In one paragraph
Mill's influential work on moral philosophy that argues for the greatest happiness principle as the foundation of morality.
Also tagged
Where this sits in the operating system
People & Relationships
Mental Models & Decision Frameworks
Key insights
The greatest happiness principle, refined by Mill's insistence that pleasures differ in kind and not only in quantity.
Better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied, which is his answer to the charge that the theory is crude.
The aggregation problem is the enduring objection: nothing in the calculus protects a minority from being outweighed.
Recognise it early
The failure and the correction sit side by side deliberately. Read the left column asking whether any of it is already true of you.
Sacrificing individual rights for collective benefit
Focusing only on immediate pleasures over meaningful happiness
Ignoring minority stakeholder interests
Paralysis from trying to calculate every consequence
Using utilitarian reasoning to justify selfish decisions
The same idea, argued differently
Plato
The full breakdown
Before you close this
Naming the specific moment you will act roughly doubles the odds you do.
Reference
- Author
- John Stuart Mill
- Published
- 1863
- Category
- Philosophy
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