About this title: In UTILITARIANISM, published in 1863, Mill discusses the nuances of his foundational ethical principal that: "Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness."
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Description: Good. [ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ] [ Underlining/Highlighting: SOME ] [ Writing: SOME ] [ Torn pages: NO ] [ Broken Seams: NO ] Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Pub Date: 5/7/1998 Binding: Paperback Pages: 168. read more
Description: Acceptable. 1998-Paperback----Used-Acceptable-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Description: Very Good. 019875163X Very Good and Unread! Text is clean and unmarked! Has a publishers mark. Has minor shelf wear (light creasing) from storage. --Be Sure to Compare Seller Engine Feedback and Ratings Before Purchasing-- read more
Binding: Paperback; Later Printing
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, Oxford
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780198751632ISBN:019875163X
Description: G. Moderate edge wear. Writing on page edges. Very minor underlining. Pages bright, binding solid.; Oxford Philosophical Texts; 1557 pages. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Don Mills, ON, Canada
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9780198751632ISBN:019875163X
Description: Very Good + 6 x 9.5 trade paperback book. Blue, white, and lavander lettering on the blue and lavander spine and cover. One of the most important, controversial, and suggestive works of moral philosophy ever written. 157 pages. 1999 reprint. Soil on front innerboard and end paper. Mild crease. Tight binding. Very Good + condition. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780198751632ISBN:019875163X
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Description: Good. Publishers Overstock. A Good copy with a Remainder Mark and wear to the covers and the extremities. Buy with confidence from an Independent Bookstore where the owners, a husband and wife team, have over 30 years of combined bookselling experience. read more
Edition: New ed
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press (United Kingdom)
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780198751632ISBN:019875163X
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 234 High by 156 Wide by 13 deep in mm. (164) the oxford philosophical texts series consists of authoritative teaching editions of canonical texts in the history of philosophy from the ancient world down to modern times. each volume provides a clear, well laid out text together with a comprehensive introduction by a leading specialist, providing the student with detailed critical guidance on the intellectual context of the work and the structure and philosophical importance ... read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Date Published: 1998-05-28
ISBN-13:9780198751632ISBN:019875163X
Description: Fair. ** COVER HAS SLIGHT TEAR! ! This is a used book in good condition with normal wear and tear and may contain some writing, minor shelf wear and creases. Items are uploaded via ISBN and stock photo may be different from actual book cover. read more
Description: Satisfaction Guaranteed. Shipped quickly. 1998. Paperback. Used, very good. Very good overall with light to moderate wear. No dust jacket. read more
Description: Good. 019875163X Good condition. May have some markings & or shelfwear. All pages intact. Used items may not include extras such as infotrac, CD or other web access codes. read more
Description: Good. 019875163X Good condition. May have some markings & or shelfwear. All pages intact. Used items may not include extras such as infotrac, CD or other web access codes. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9780198751632ISBN:019875163X
Description: New. In this work of moral philosophy, John Stuart Mill defends the view that all human action should produce the greatest happiness overall, and that happiness itself is to be understood as consisting in higher and lower pleasures. read more
"What explains why it is that some things are judged right and others judged wrong? If I vacuum my apartment by day, my roommate is satisfied and my actions are right; but if I do the same in the twilight hours of the night, he reproaches me and accuses me of doing wrong. If I mock my friend for one of their silly eccentricities, and I do it in the spirit of humor, my conduct is usually considered welcome and appropriate; but if I do the same such that it touches on a point of sensitivity for them, then I have injured their feelings and thought to have done wrong. If I kick a dog because it is in imminent danger from an oncoming car, I have done right; but if I kick that same dog because it is obstructing my view of the television, this same action is considered wrong.
The examples may not be very imaginative, but the point of them all is the same: the question of right and wrong comes up everywhere, at every juncture of life. The reasons why one thing is right and another wrong seems to vary as much with each occasion as the varieties of life provide. It would be a bold proposition then to claim that all things right and wrong, all without exception, are accounted for by a single principle. But that is exactly what John Stuart Mill proclaims. And what's more, that principle is the one described by Utilitarians: the Greatest Happiness principle.
It is a very daring idea, and one that does not come to the intuition naturally: that the same reason vacuuming late at night is wrong is related, ultimately, to the reason why my insensitive humor was wrong, and why kicking a dog without good cause was wrong. That is the issue for discussion in Mill's famous essay. He wants to prove that Utilitarian creed not only does explain the wide array of moral phenomena, but that it is the best theory to do such; and other alternatives such as Kant's "intuitve" explanations, or that by the 18th century British "inductivists", to use Mill's sobriquets, are not as well fitted as his Utilitarian mantra. It is to this that his dissertation on Utilitarianism is devoted. And it is this that composes the sixty some pages and dense argument that follows.
I wouldn't dare begin to recount the shape of those arguments; that would certainly tire this audience and burden this entry with an amount of work that would be exhausting to complete. Let me instead enter a quick critique of Mill, and leave the rest for the reader to sort for themselves.
I think a lot of praise can be said for Mill's essays. They are obviously very famous, and I think rightly so. Mill takes up a very difficult problem, cogitates on it seriously, gives it the cast of dignity and depth that all good philosophers do to their subject, and supplies a lot of argument that must certainly have advanced the discussion and illuminated new areas for debate. His ability for argument, line to line, is some of the most effective I have ever read--though this is displayed better in his essay "On Liberty" then in "Utilitarianism". So there are many virtues of this essay, which commend it to interested readers.
That said however, Mill's essay "Utilitarianism" suffers from major problems in arrangement and coherence. "Utilitarianism" is not really one whole argument, but really four different ones, each after a purpose slightly different, and relating to one another at best implicity, or at worst not at all. Mill is stingy when it comes to elaborating what is the purpose to which his argument is aimed; and instead prefers to run off with the argument, to whatever corners his mind thinks fit, leaving it to the reader to deduce how it is one chapter, on justice for example, fits with another on sanction, or another one the definition of Utilitarianism. The material rather appears a sequence of intellectual spasms, than it does a project well-ordered for the progress of moving the reader through the problems of moral philosophy and ultimately achieving their persuasion. Each chapter resembles more its own advocate, each appealing the point a different way, than it does a harmony of argumentation, with the problem of accounting for right wrong neatly reduced to components and carefully argued and the conclusion confidently drawn out. Chapter 2, on the definition of Utilitarianism, veers off in strange courses and does not keep a straight trajectory; and Chapter 4, on what proof Utilitarianism is susceptible, ends with so much apathy on the part of Mill, one wonders whether he has even convinced himself, to say nothing of the reader.
The criticism that I find most damning is Mill's neglect to harness the fruits of his labor; for by the end of each chapter, even if he has proved, for example of Chapter 5, that the notion of justice is left in tact, and Utilitarianism does not sacrifice the integrity of that hallowed idea, and reduce it to a means, for the sake of its avowed ends--even if we grant that as true, then question remains: how much of the truth is it? That is: what have you, Mill, proven about the merits of Utilitarianism? He, in Chapter 1, explains that much of his argument can only be demonstrated, but not really proven; because ends are not susceptible to decisive argument, but can only be assented to, that his burden of argument must therefore be less. I don't know if this claim is correct, but even if it were, I'm not sure it excuses the confusion of arrangement and argumentation that is present in "Utilitarianism". Confusion on the part of the reader should not be apologized for on the part of their apprehension, rather the fault lies with Mill for making his larger arguments so inscrutable.
Though this be a great work of philosophy. For this fundamental failure, I can only give Mill four stars."
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