philosophy · 1861 – 1873
Higher and Lower Pleasures
Mill concedes that by Bentham's own test a man living like a pig would score well, and rebuilds the calculus with a hierarchy of pleasures, a theory of justice that protects each person as an equal claimant, and a liberty principle against the tyranny of the majority. The era produces the two classic rejoinders to pure aggregation: quality, and the individual who cannot be sacrificed to the total.
“Happiness is the only thing which is intrinsically valuable, and is, therefore, the only criterion of a right moral rule.”
Advances
- Quality of experience as a second dimension alongside quantity
- The justice principle: each person counts as one and no one as more than one
- The liberty principle as a standing ground of objection against collective optimisation
Landmarks
1861 CE
Utilitarianism published
A defence of the intuitions Utilitarianism was meant to replace.
1869 CE
On the Subjection of Women
The liberty principle pushed into the case Mill thought it did not cover.
1873 CE
System of Logic completed
The induction and the methods of the social sciences are codified alongside the ethics.
Who was arguing
Alignment stack at 1873 CE (0 of 20 techniques)
Techniques introduced in this era: