Mill Questions 3 PDF

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Daily assignment to read and answer specific questions....

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Read Mill’s selection, pp. 22-27 1) Is happiness attainable by (almost) all? Explain a. Mill says that happiness is technically attainable by all. He says, “All the grand sources, in short, of human suffering are in a great degree, many of them almost entirely, conquerable by human care and effort” (22). Mill is saying that although many generations have struggled with the world’s evils, in principle, it is possible for everyone to attain happiness. It is indeed possible to live without happiness, as many people have already done. Yet it is equally possible to attain happiness. 2) Does self-sacrifice have any value? Explain a. Self-sacrifice is the highest virtue which can be found in man (23). Sacrificing happiness gives the best prospect of realizing that such happiness is attainable. Mill is basically saying that when someone sacrifices their own happiness, it actually makes happiness an even better possibility. This man will be satisfied with small things in life and less afraid of the evils in life. When this man does find happiness: “the sources of satisfaction accessible to him, without concerning himself about the uncertainty of their duration, any more than their inevitable end” (24). Selfsacrifice has value, but it must increase the sum of total happiness.

3) Does the motive determine the morality of the action? Ought people to attend to something other than their private utility? Explain. a. The motive has nothing to do with the morality of the action, though much with the worth of the agent (26). Mill is saying that regardless of intentions, if the outcomes of your actions are good, then your action is moral. People should attempt to attend to things other than their private utility, yet it is not always feasible. Mill uses the golden rule of the Bible – to love your neighbor as you would love yourself – to get this point across. Humans highest priority of happiness should be of other people. There should be a connection in one’s mind between the happiness of yourself and the happiness of the public. In other words, you should be happy when you think others are happy. But as long as you are not actively harming others in achieving private happiness, you are following moral expectations. People don’t have to actively be thinking of other’s happiness because when you make yourself and your family happy, that is enough. If everyone is achieving their own happiness (and their loved one’s happiness) without hurting other’s, then everyone in the world is technically happy....