Reading - Utilitarianism by Mill

Knowledge I gained from the reading:
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Utilitarianism is the idea that says that, the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its utility in providing happiness or pleasure as summed among all conscious beings. It means that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome. In ethical concept happiness of the greatest number of people in the society is considered the greatest good. So, Utilitarianism is the theory that the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by its usefulness in bringing the most happiness to all those are affected by it. An action is right if it tends to maximize happiness of everyone affected.

The most influential contributors to this ideology were Jeremy Bentham, an English philosopher and legal and social reformer, and John Stuart Mill, an English philosopher, political theorist and political economist.

Utilitarianism is often described by the phrase "the greatest good for the greatest number of people" [1], and is also known as "the greatest happiness principle". Utility or the good to be maximized has been defined by various thinkers as happiness or pleasure. Preference utilitarian theorists define it as the satisfaction of preferences. Utilitarianism can be characterized as a quantitative and reductionist approach to ethics. It can be contrasted with deontological ethics, which do not regard the consequences of an act as being a determinant of its moral worth.

The origins of utilitarianism are often traced as far back as the Greek philosopher Epicurus, but, as a specific school of thought, it is generally credited to Jeremy Bentham [2]. Bentham found pain and pleasure to be the only intrinsic values in the world: "nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.” [1] From this, he derived the rule of utility: the good is whatever brings the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people.

In his famous work, Utilitarianism, John Stuart Mill argues that cultural, intellectual and spiritual pleasures are of greater value than mere physical pleasure because the former would be valued higher than the latter by competent judges. A competent judge, according to Mill, is anyone who has experienced both the lower pleasures and the higher. His famous quote in his book was, "it is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied". [5] This shows Mill's distinction between higher and lower pleasures. He justified this distinction by the thought that "few human creatures would consent to be changed into any of the lower animals, for a promise of the fullest allowance of a beast's pleasures." [5] John Stuart Mill also made a clear distinction between happiness and pleasure; and made it evident that Weak Rule Utilitarianism was focused on maximizing happiness rather than pleasure made it clear that what one desires and what is good is not always the same thing.

Personal insights I am able to make from the reading:
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After reading this article I learned that utilitarianism pays more importance on doing the most good for the most number of people. I personally think that, if we are in a situation where not following utilitarian ideology may cause a great deal of pain and suffering or harm to many people then we might consider following utilitarian way of thinking and concentrate on doing most good for a greater number of people. However, if doing greater good to greater number of people causes significant pain and suffering for even a few people then we should reconsider the situation and try to do good for everybody if we have a choice, given that we can still do good for most people but that good may not be a greater good. What I mean here is that, our first choice should be to try to do good for everybody.

Questions and challenges the reading has left me with:
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In the society where we live it is not always easy to decide what will do most good to the most number of people. We sometimes are in situations where doing most good to greater number of people might cause harm to someone dear to us. How do we handle this kind of situations?

Practical and personal applications I am able to make for the knowledge gained:
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Utilitarianism is a great ideology. However every situation is different and unique. So, I will use my best judgment and first try to do as much good for all the people and if that is absolutely not possible then do most good for greater number of people.

References:
1. Jeremy Bentham. (1789). An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation.
2. Rosen, Frederick (2003). Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill. Routledge, p. 28.
3. John Stuart Mill. (1863). Utilitarianism