John Stuart Mill College Essays Samples For Students

According to Mills, the happiness achieved by a person varies and can be classified into two; lower ranked pleasure and a higher ranked pleasure. In differential capacity, using the "Utilitarianism” moral theory, higher pleasures are intellectually defined while the lower ranked pleasures can be assumed to be the sensual ones. According to his ethical description in the utilitarianism, those acts which maximizes pleasure are more suited for human acceptance than those which do not. Common things like food, sleep, sex, beverages and talking are less likely to increase pleasure compared to intellectual like reading and good novel, brainstorming to ...

Plan

1) Introduction

General overview of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with regard to its political history and the concept of its geopolitics.

Max Webber’s concepts on the state and how they apply in Nigeria
How John Stuart Mill’s Concepts on nationality are reflected in Nigeria
2) Geopolitical characteristics of Nigeria

The main geopolitical zones and their historical origin

The basis for the division of these geopolitical zones based on John Stuart Mill’s concepts on nationality
How Max Webber’s concepts on the state apply in Nigeria
How the country’s political, economic, and educational resources are shared effectively within these zones
How different the geopolitical zones are compared to the zones that defined these regions in the past.
3) The source of economic power ...

Introduction

Ethics refers to the branch of philosophy that deals with values relating to human conduct especially with respect to the wrongness or rightness of actions and also to the badness or goodness of the cause and ends of such actions (Franena, 1973). An ethical system is a set of correlated values that concern preferable modes of conduct. In other words an ethical system could refer to “a map of the good life” or “ground rules” that aids a person to make the right decision when in a dilemma. Several philosophers such as Emmanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and Jean Jacques Rousseau have over ...

Essay, MLA

Philosophy – Three Essays
1. Identify ONE of the following philosophers' ideological orientations as either Apollonian or Dionysian: Rene Descartes or John Locke. Provide a brief argument justifying your identification. (700 words, Works Cited, Double Spacing, 12 points)
2. Does John Stuart Mill's Utilitarian Ethics have as its epistemological basis Rationalism or Empiricism? Why? (700 words, Works Cited, Double Spacing, 12 points)
John Stuart Mill’s (1806-1873) Utilitarian Ethics has as its epistemological basis the radical, interpretative empiricism where all knowledge comes from experience. He argued that mathematical statements, for instance, express mere probabilities on account of their ...

The views of Adam Smith, William Petty and John Stuart Mill on Taxation

Introduction
Taxation has generated various views from different groups of scholars based on its intense and demanding nature of the subject. Definitely, taxation entails the use of existing state and government laws to impose financial charges upon individuals, which seeks to facilitate equal resource distribution1. As such, taxation usually occurs through the use of monetary terms whereby they are submitted directly or indirectly to the administrative forums. Arguably, taxation occurs as a way in which surplus produce is collected to allow for equitable distribution of already available resources2. Although taxation forms an essential basis for equal resource distributions, various ...

John Stuart Mill's Harm Principle

Introduction
Throughout the human history, the use of force has been applied to restrain people from acting in a manner that may cause harm or danger to other people, or to themselves. There has been always an attempt to constrain people to act in a particular manner, or behave in a manner that is conventional in a particular group of people. However, in the current civilized society, there is always a discrepancy between what a person is allowed to do and what one cannot be allowed. The use of force to restrain a person to act in a desired manner is seen as an archaic way, ...

Abstract

The modern bureaucratic system replaced the previous patriarchal system which had some flaws that slowed down the further development of the society. The administrative bodies make decisions and realize them, resorting to enforcement matters when it’s needed, within their authority. The bureaucracy tries to satisfy the needs of those people that it administrates, while those people are taking care of other things: production of material and spiritual goods, bringing up the new generation, health care, and their own professional and personal development. The bureaucracy acts in behalf of those people who empowered it to manage the public affairs.
...

John Stuart Mill argues that there should be an equality of the sexes in his essay. The fundamental thesis of the essay is that the subordination of one gender to the other sex is wrong, and by extension an obstacle to the development of humanity. In light of this, Mill argues that this state of affairs should be changed and same opportunities given to both sexes. Key to this argument is John Stuart Mill’s conviction that the moral and intellectual advancement of humanity would result in greater happiness for all. Though he does not quite explain what he ...

The theories of both Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill have played an important role in framing conceptions of modern philosophical theories. Although most modern philosophers have critiqued these theories, they are still important since they form the very basis of philosophical understanding and thought. This essay will summarize, reflect on and respond to the theories of Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill as well as the Deontological theory by Immanuel Kant.

Utilitarianism

John Stuart Mill’s utilitarian thought is heavily characterized by classical liberalism and positivism and is a ‘consequentialist’ theory. The utilitarian theory is a principle which believes that a right or ...

Question 1 -John Stuart Mill on Freedom

Question one on freedom as described by John Stuart Mill makes sense to me because the idea of individuality subjectively fits the personal view of a quality type of life. When each person remains free developing into the person they can become according to personal feelings, perspectives, and importantly the creative process this inherently contributes to a society where freedom to do so benefits everyone and prevents what he views as social stagnation. Therefore John Stuart Mill idea of freedom allows the best possible development of people individually and people as a society evolving independently and collectively toward a better type of social ...

ABSTRACT

In the 19th Century, when John Stuart Mill and his conservative enemy Cardinal John Henry Newman were politically and intellectual active, it was simply a given that the law would enforce Christian or Biblical morality of social and cultural matters like abortion, homosexuality, drug use, euthanasia and suicide, pornography and a wide variety of other issues. Indeed, this had always been the case in Britain, the U.S. and other Western nations in ways that would be all but unthinkable today. Even at that time, though, Cardinal Newman was already afraid that the religious authorities were losing their traditional political and legal ...

Happiness is a state which many strive for; some achieve it and others don’t. However, the means and ways of attaining happiness are varied and can often involve questionable ethics. For instance, by taking an ecstasy pill, the side effect is to feel happy and as if you love everyone and everything; however, the purchasing of such a drug is illegal and the money goes into the drug trade which has links to countless un-ethical associations. It is also an unsustainable state which wears off after a few hours, so is that really happiness anyway? The pursuit of happiness is man’ ...

Theoretical Essay

In the world of law punishment (alternative name – penalty) is considered as an “infliction of some kind of pain or loss upon a person for misdeed (i.e., the transgression of a law or command).”1
Penalty may take different forms and vary from forced labor, flogging, body mutilation, fines and imprisonment to the capital punishment. The punishment has been very retributive, mostly in the form of revenge, during the pre-modern ages and usually the prosecution was executed by the victims or their families. There was not any proportion between the quantity and quality of wrongdoing and the punishment. The ...

The principle of utility according to John Stuart Mill can be divided into two parts from which he attempts to explain and prove it. Mill begins by claiming that it would be impossible to prove a principle by mere reasoning. As he attempts to prove the utility principle he begins by claiming that the proof that desire exists would be from the evidence that people actually desire something. Therefore, it justified the fact that happiness is good and that people desire happiness as one criterion of morality. Mill then has to show how happiness is the sole criterion of ...

Women around the world are subject to discrimination and violence at the hands of men. Their status has been manipulated by men by different sections of society such as clergy, politicians, and economists. Women, especially in the United States were considered to be second class citizens to men; this eventually led to many historic movements by feminists, who aim for equal rights for women. To build awareness, artists and writers in history also played their role in giving boost to feminism. Virginia Woolf, Kate Millet, Alice Walker, John Stuart Mill, Mary Wollstonecraft, Germaine Greer, and Elizabeth Stanton are writers ...

Business goals are primarily geared towards attaining financial gains. Other factors weigh heavily in ensuring the success of a business undertaking such as the organizational capability, management competency and market improvement strategies. Beyond these success factors, however, one aspect of running a business that is crucial in determining the performance of the business in the long term is business ethics or the application of moral theories in making business decisions.
Business ethics refer to the adoption of proper business policies and practices concerning potentially controversial issues, such as corporate governance, insider trading, bribery, discrimination, corporate social responsibility and fiduciary ...

Introduction
Utilitarianism is a principle that the moral worth of an action is determined by its usefulness in maximizing utility and minimizing negative utility. Utility is the pleasure, preference satisfaction and knowledge. The moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome. In this study we are going to compare Mill, John Stuart’s work 'Utilitarianism’ and Kant, Immanuel’s work 'Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals.' The study will also come up with findings based on the comparisons if the end justifies the means.
John Mill’s account on Utilitarianism is primarily influenced by Jeremy Bentham ...

Before Alexis de Tocqueville wrote the book “Democracy in America,” the problem of “tyranny of the majority” had hit the American society in such a way that the majority enjoyed the sovereignty of the minority. It was until after the French revolution that most scholars such as John Stuart Mill and Tocqueville opted to devise mechanisms through which they would adopt in reducing and preventing the sustainability of the vice. This is because the minority groups from various religion and races had become slaves in such a way that they could not influence any problem solving or decision-making process in their ...

Introduction

Morality deals with distinguishing the difference between right and wrong. It dictates the actions and behavior of people; what they should do, and what they should not do. However, because of the diversity of the human conditions and cultures all over the world, there are many ways to perceive morality. These various ways are manifested in different moral theories. One of them is utilitarianism. This is the moral theory that we will be focusing on. The questions that this paper will now try to answer are: what is utilitarianism and is it a valid moral theory?
In order to ...

John Stuart Mill was a great political thinker who lived in the 19th century. His contributions in the political world of his time were well documented and formed a great part of political movements during his times. J.S. Mill lived at a time when the world was undergoing several changes brought about by the effects of industrialization. The emergence of the middle class people brought about several changes politically making it difficult for industrialization to continue. J.S. Mill was born of James Mill a Utilitarian thinker in 1806. His father raised him with proper education in a controlled environment. However, his experiences as a 20 ...

Do cultures determine what is good, right, correct and acceptable or are there basic human virtues that determine what is wrong, good, moral action and morally good? Or are morals universal and applicable to all cultures? This paper seeks to determine the characteristics of both sides and determine whether there exists a common ground between the two points of view.
Rosenstand, (2012, pg 146) points out that the concept of normal is properly a variant concept of good. Benedicts also asserted that normality is culturally defined i.e. what a society takes as good, right, correct action or morally good or what ...

John Stuart Mill believes that it creates pleasure in life when people engage in ethical actions and all that every human being wants in life is pleasure and not pain. Comparably, other utilitarian’s believe that all things worthy having are pleasurable experiences. It is unfortunate that not all experiences bring pleasure, they can still cause pain. According to Mill, utilitarianism is based on the principle that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness” (Mill, 2001). When there is happiness, there is pleasure and no ...

According to utilitarianism and its view on punishment, punishing criminals does not imply giving them what they deserve by exacting revenge or retribution to them. It further asserts that inflicting suffering on the criminals without compensating gain in happiness is very unethical and against the societal requirements (Tunick p. 29 – 38). John Stuart Mill, who is one of the developers of this ethical theory on crime, asserts that ‘actions are right as they tend to promote happiness, and wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness (Mill p. 12 – 43)). In his definition of happiness, he explains ...

Introduction

Since ages, researchers, philosophers, artists, and women have wondered about who is an ideal man. Everybody’s idea of the perfect man varies greatly, and the concept keeps changing with time and need. However, there are certain aspects in behavior, morals, and conducts that never change in one’s perspective of idealism in man. This paper attempts to understand the thought processes of three great thinkers and philosophers—Aristotle, Kant, and Mill—about an ideal man and how much of these are relevant in the context of the present world. The essay concludes with my concept of an ideal ...

In the late eighteenth century a well known English philosopher called Jeremy Bentham proposed the idea of what he called the ‘Panopticon’. A prison that would allows a handful of guards to watch (-opticon) all (pan-) inmates, without them necessarily knowing whether or not they’re being watched. The basic design is a circular building with all cells located on the outside of the circle where in the centre is located the guards watch tower of which the guards can observer all the inmates of that floor.
He asserted that one watchman could in theory watch an entire prison of inmates ...

At first glance, the two philosophies of utilitarianism and psychological egoism appear to be quite similar. To the casual observer, both philosophies seem to say that people do good deeds to benefit themselves. Psychological egoism propounds that humans are always motivated by self interest, and utilitarianism, as explained by John Stuart Mill in his essay by that name, states that the more happiness an action promotes the more morally right it is. On closer inspection, though, are these two philosophies really so similar?
Mill believes that the greatest intrinsic motivator for people’s actions is their desire for ...

Introduction

In a democracy citizens take for granted many things that legitimate democratic institutions make possible such as the right to vote, being able to check out a federal law book from the library, or being able to run for city council. Discussions about legitimacy in coffee shops or over kitchen tables are mostly about laws or some politician’s social behavior.

The legitimization of coercive power of democratic institutions may be thought of as an academic philosophical concept but its importance in practical, everyday governing cannot be ignored. Democratic institutions are actors in the justification and legitimization of coercive power because ...

A brief discussion into the ethics of assisted suicide

Abstract
Throughout the course of this essay I draw on Susan Wolf’s experience of her father’s death to discuss the moral implications of assisted suicide. Initially comparing the choices made by her and her father to that of the principles of Utility produced by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and further expanded on by John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) to assist in assessing those choices as moral calculations. I then expand on this briefly discussing autonomy and right to life before discussing Immanuel Kant’s (1780) ideas on moral duties and maxims.
I then conclude with my own ...