“Utilitarianism,” by John Stuart Mill

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utilitarianism , by JohnStuart MillTable of ContentsIdeas of Interest from utilitarianism ........................................ ................. 2The Reading Selection from utilitarianism ........................................ ....... 4Topics Worth 24John Stuart from photograph of a portrait by Sophus of the hisAutobiography, John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) depicts his extraordi-narily rigorous early education under his father James Mill, a member ofthe utilitarian circle known as the Philosophical Radicals. At the age offourteen, he studied chemistry, zoology, logic, and higher mathematics withtheFacult de Sciencesat theUniversit de Montpelier, France. At twenty,Mill suffered an intense depression, ostensibly from exhaustion and stressfrom his work for the Philosophical Radicals, as he lost all interest in intel-lectual pursuits. Over the next three years, he found solace in the poetry ofWordsworth and Coleridge as well as the Utopian vision of Saint-Simon.

Mill thinks virtue can also be rightfully desirable in itself? Can pleasure 3.Psychological egoism is the empirical doctrine that the determining motive of every voluntary action is a desire for one’s own welfare. Ethical egoism is the normative or pre-

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