Philosophy-Mill

There are different standards for morality, and there is no way to make everyone have the same standards. There is NO connection between tolerance and relativism because we shouldn't tolerate everything, and tolerance has different standards and to force one standard on everyone is contradictory to the principle of tolerance itself.

Consequentialism is judging right and wrong by the consequences of actions. Utilitarianism is an example of consequentialism because utilitarianism judges right and wrong by the level of happiness.

Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, and wrong as they tend to promote the reverse of happiness, where happiness is pleasure in the absence of pain and the reverse of happiness is pain in the absence of pleasure

Science uses observations and with those observations, through generalization, reaches the basic principles. Morality, unlike science, begins with the basic principles or the goal of happiness, and after making judgements is lead to individual actions. Science also uses hard evidence while morality does not.

Mill introduces the idea of mental pleasures, where humans are able to obtain mental pleasures of greater pleasure than simply physical pleasures, where a swine cannot have mental pleasures, only physical.

Mill says that if happiness is what we all strive for, the men living without happiness is the objection to utilitarianism because they should be striving for happiness. If they are sacrificing their happiness for the sake of the greater good, then it is acceptable as still being utilitarianism.

Rule utilitarianism is when actions are right if they accord with a rule, the general following of which tends to increase happiness. The difference between rule and act utilitarianism is that rule uses past knowledge and rules, while act judges each individual act as itself alone without factoring past decisions. The problem rule utilitarianism is supposed to solve is that there is not time to judge each action, we can learn from past trends and make decisions quicker.

External sanctions are when the consequences of actions is present, such as jail. Internal sanctions are when the feelings of conscience is present, such as guilt. Mill believes internal sanctions are more important because then conscience is something an individual has to live with forever.

Humans are social beings, and as utilitarianism strives for the greatest good for the greatest number of people, they fit will together.

The only thing humans desire is happiness, so telling them to desire something else is simply impossible. Therefore humans can only strive for happiness.

People may start off using happiness as a means to an end, such as virtue, but the closer they get to reaching their goal of virtue, the more virtue ends up being part of happiness.

Just because things are a certain way, doesn't mean they necessarily should be that way.

The one basic principle of morality is utility. If justice is an equal part of morality as utility, then Mill's principle of utility is incorrect and there are two basic principles not just one.

Justice implies something which is not only right to do, and wrong not to do, but which some individual person can claim from us as his moral right. Everyone has the moral right to justice, but not generosity or beneficence.

The two parts are the desire to punish wrongdoers, and the belief that someone has been harmed. The belief that someone has been harmed is moral.