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QUESTION

KIM WOODS

Be sure to reply to your classmates and instructor. Try to attempt to take the conversation further by examining their claims or arguments in more depth or responding to the posts that they make to you. Keep the discussion on target and try to analyze things in as much detail as you can.

Gina Lasiter

Topic #4   by 'happiness' is meant pleasure and the absence of pain; by 'unhappiness' is meant pain and the lack of pleasure. This quote from our required reading is very consistent with one another. "Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the prevention of pleasure." (Mill, J. S. 2008) A little girl is given a sucker she is experiencing the pleasure of happiness by enjoying her sucker. Along comes another child and takes the sucker from the little girl. She is now experiencing unhappiness and a lack of pleasure. This quote works hand in hand with each other. A child is promised to go see his favorite movie, his parents take him to the movie during the movie there are technical difficulties that arise causing the movie to stop and they are not able to continue the showing. The child has experienced the happiness and then the pain.  I believe when discussing utilitarianism minimizing suffering is more important then generating good for the greatest number. If your minimize the suffering that is in turn making the person have a greater since of happiness and giving them pleasure. If the suffering is not present in ones life you are giving them happiness. The 2 requirements of happiness are: Mental cultivation and Unselfishness. Having both of these requirements will give you virtue which is better then happiness.   Mill, J. S. (2008). Utilitarianism (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., In J. Bennett (Ed. & Rev.) Early Modern Philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/mill1863.pdf Gina  

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Topic #4

by 'happiness' is meant pleasure and the absence of pain;

by 'unhappiness' is meant pain and the lack of pleasure.

This quote from our required reading is very consistent with one another. "Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the prevention of pleasure." (Mill, J. S. 2008)

A little girl is given a sucker she is experiencing the pleasure of happiness by enjoying her sucker. Along comes another child and takes the sucker from the little girl. She is now experiencing unhappiness and a lack of pleasure. This quote works hand in hand with each other.

A child is promised to go see his favorite movie, his parents take him to the movie during the movie there are technical difficulties that arise causing the movie to stop and they are not able to continue the showing. The child has experienced the happiness and then the pain. 

I believe when discussing utilitarianism minimizing suffering is more important then generating good for the greatest number. If your minimize the suffering that is in turn making the person have a greater since of happiness and giving them pleasure. If the suffering is not present in ones life you are giving them happiness. The 2 requirements of happiness are: Mental cultivation and Unselfishness. Having both of these requirements will give you virtue which is better then happiness.

Mill, J. S. (2008). Utilitarianism (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., In J. Bennett (Ed. & Rev.) Early Modern Philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/mill1863.pdfLinks to an external site.

o    Jamante Galvin

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3. One famous worry about utilitarianism is that it demands that we regard our own set of desires, ends, and our own happiness, as just one among a great many others whose lives we might impact.  Accordingly, our own desires, ends, etc. bear very little weight when determining what the greatest happiness of the greatest number is, and thus what our moral responsibility is.  Think of a situation or area of life in which this might be true, and our concern for our own well-being and happiness has to take a back seat to the concern for the well-being and happiness of the greatest number.  What might a utilitarian say to someone who thinks this is too high a sacrifice? Would this be a plausible response?  Be sure to back up your answer with references to the resources, and respond to your peers by considering what someone who disagrees with them might say.

We have all experience some form of utilitarianism in our lives to promote happiness and we often use this principle to benefit the greatest number of people. I am a gym rat and I love to play basketball with my friends. I remember a situation where my sister had a doctor’s appointment and was told that she needed a designated driver. She immediately asked me if I would be able to take her to the doctor’s office and wait for her and bring her home. Of course, the appointment was during time my friends and I played basketball. A utilitarian might contend that playing basketball with my friends is greater than driving my sister to the doctor visit. On the other hand, my sister will receive great pleasure if I do not go play basketball with my friends. The happiness of my sister and I will be higher if I take my sister to her doctor’s visit, even though my individual happiness might be somewhat lower than it would have been if I had chosen to go play basketball with my friends. Nevertheless, there are consequences for our decisions and actions, “if the consequences of one act produce the greatest net good—or the highest utility—for the greatest number of people, this is the act one should carry out” (Mosser 2013). Making the right moral choice for the greatest good and minimizing unhappiness was a utilitarianism experience my sister and I shared.

                                                                    Reference

Mosser, K. (2013). Understanding philosophy. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

o    Shelia Lowe

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Discussion Two

Week Two

PHI 208

Early in the text Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill (2014) says that that utilitarianism is based on a "theory of life" that some have called "a doctrine worthy only of swine." What is this "theory of life," and how does he draw upon it to defend the utilitarian theory of morality? What do critics mean when they call this a "doctrine worthy only of swine," and how does Mill respond to that criticism? Do you think that his response vindicates this "theory of life", or is he mistaken about what has ultimate value in human life? Finally, does his view make utilitarianism more plausible or less plausible as a moral theory?   Your posts should demonstrate that you have read and thought critically about Mill's text.

When you talk about Utilitarianism, you need to know the meaning John Stuart states that "utilitarianism is a theory that is based on the principle that "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness." Mill defines happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain. Mill says "Utilitarianism offers as the best way to decide if it is the right actions to take in situations that we might find ourselves.  It helps us to make up our mind what we ought to do in a situation. We first to verify the action that we can take. Then we to look at all the foreseeable benefits and harm that our action for each action for everyone affected the by the action. We must choose the course of action that gives the greatest benefits after the costs been taken into account. "Mill argues that utilitarianism coincides with "natural" sentiments that originate from humans' social nature. Therefore, if society were to embrace utilitarianism as an ethic, people would naturally internalize these standards as morally binding." Mill, (2008). If you don't understand what Mills mean the best example that I can give you is the atomic bomb on Japan during WWII. Mill Theory of life is wrong in one option but utilitarianism good in human life. Mill though on utilitarianism is more feasible because of moral theory it becomes more credible, so yes, I believe in Mill utilitarianism. To show that I have read the discussion I am going to talk about the death penalty is it right is wrong. We know that if you are on the death row to kill that you have done something wrong or horrible. Do we have the right to put someone on death row?  In the bible, it says Thou Shall Not Kill, but when someone kills other human-being, they will most likely end up being put to death. I feel that putting people on death row is wrong; they should be confined to jail until they die. We are not the judge of how people should die that it for God.The happiness which forms the utilitarian standard of what is right in conduct is not...(one's) own happiness, but that of all concerned. As between his happiness and that of others, utilitarianism requires him to be as strictly impartial as a disinterested and benevolent spectator.

Mill, J. S. (2008). Utilitarianism (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., In J. Bennett (Ed. & Rev.) Early Modern Philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/m

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