Topic 2: The Proof of Utilitarianism

Essay question

How is Mill’s ‘proof’ of utilitarianism supposed to work? Does it succeed?

Key readings

• Mill, J. S., Utilitarianism, London: Parker, Son & Bourn, 1863, chs. 1, 4.
• Brink, D. O., Mill's Moral and Political Philosophy, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Fall, 2014, sect. 2.11.
• Bykvist, K., Utilitarianism: a Guide for the Perplexed, London: Continuum, 2009, ch. 2.
• Crisp, R., Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Mill on Utilitarianism, London: Routledge, 1997, ch. 4.
• Mackie, J. L., Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977, ch. 6, sect. 5.

Further reading

• Atkinson, R., F., J. S. Mill’s “Proof” of the Principle of Utility, Philosophy, vol. 32, no. 121 (April, 1957), pp 158-167.
• Berger, F. R., Happiness, Justice, and Freedom: The Moral and Political Philosophy of John Stuart Mill, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984, chs. 1-2.
• Brown, D. G., What Is Mill’s Principle of Utility?, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, vol. 3, no. 1 (September, 1973), pp. 1-12.
• Hall, E. W., The “Proof” of Utility in Bentham and Mill, Ethics, vol. 60, no. 1 (October, 1949), pp. 1-18.
• Moore, G. E., Principia Ethica, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1903, ch. 1, sects. 1-14; ch. 3, sects. 39-44, 59-65.
• Putnam, H., Reason, Truth and History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981, ch. 9.
• Raphael, D. D., Fallacies in and About Mill’s “Utilitarianism”, Philosophy, vol. 30, no. 115 (October, 1955), pp. 344-357.
• Sayre-McCord, G., Mill's "Proof" of the Principle of Utility: A More than Half-Hearted Defense, Social Philosophy and Policy, vol. 18, no. 2 (June, 2001), pp. 330-360.
• Seth, J., The Alleged Fallacies in Mill’s “Utilitarianism”, The Philosophical Review, vol. 17, no. 5 (September, 1908), pp. 469-488.

Exam questions

• How would you most charitably construe Mill’s “proof” of the principle of utility?
• What is the structure of Mill’s proof of the Principle of Utility? Is it a sound one?
• What, if anything, does Mill achieve in his proof of the principle of utility?
• Is the Principle of Utility susceptible of a proof? If not, why not?
• Does Mill’s proof of Utilitarianism involve a fallacy?