Utilitarianism is the direction in philosophy, the basic principles of which were set out by Jeremy Bentham in his work "Introduction to the principles of morals and legislation" (1780). The system of utilitarianism was developed in its classical form by John Stuart Mill. Mill formulated the basic arguments of utilitarianism opposing the many critics and, in particular, the followers of Kant.
Kant and his followers viewed utilitarianism as egoistic behavior of human beings that was result of absence of their moral principles. That is why the scholars of this direction called the doctrine of utilitarianism worthy of swine. It means that only people with lack of knowledge and moral stability may act rating the personal benefits higher than the well-being of others. At the same time Mill presented strong arguments to prove that the theory of utilitarianism is really efficient one.
The basic statements of the utilitarianism may be described as following - all people seek to satisfy their desires. Happiness is the pleasure as the result of the absence of suffering, i.e. happiness is a clean, long and continuous pleasure. The pleasure and benefits are understood in utilitarianism in their broad sense: pleasure refers to all sorts of pleasures, including sensual, under the benefit means any benefit, including benefits.
According to Mill, utilitarianism is a theory that has no similarity with egoism. The typical person of utilitarianism person seeks to ensure at least his personal benefit. Morality is defined by Mill as the set of rules to guiding man in his actions through the observance of the basic principles of ethics. Three factors such as selfishness of people, lack of mental development and bad state laws may impede the implementation of the system of utilitarianism. Only by the impact of these factors the pure philosophy of good action may turn into the morality of swine.
Conclusion
Utilitarianism was defined as worthy of swine by the critics due to the basic focus on personal feeling of human beings. At the same time the arguments stated by Mill prove utilitarianism to be the efficient theory without egoistic motives unless three factors such as selfishness of people, lack of mental development and bad state laws may influence the human behavior.
References
Bernard, Lev. The postulates of utilitarianism. London: LNP, 2015.
