A Study On Mill’s Basic Thought Of Utilitarianism

The origins of utilitarianism can be traced back to ancient Greece,but it really took shape in the 18 th century and developed in the 19 th century.The formation and development of utilitarianism are closely related to the formation and development of British capitalism.In the midst of the great material improvement of capitalism,John Mill,who worked to make the world a better place,saw the danger that material gratification did not necessarily lead to spiritual enrichment,but rather to magnification of human inadequacies.In order to solve this epochal spiritual crisis,Mill defended utilitarianism by revising and perfecting Bentham’s utilitarianism of quantitative happiness theory,that is,to re demonstrate the nature and content of happiness demanded by the utilitarian principle,and to reveal that the fundamental happiness characterizing happiness is not quantifiable material happiness,but unquantifiable spiritual happiness.Only by pursuing spiritual happiness,can the only "happiness worthy of desire" reach "public happiness" from "personal happiness" in order to maximize utility.This paper focuses on the basic thought of Mill’s utilitarianism,that is,spiritual happiness and its realization conditions.It mainly analyzes Mill’s utilitarian thought from three aspects.Firstly,it investigates the ideological resources formed by Mill’s utilitarianism.Display of ancient Greece Socrates,Aristippus,Democritus and Epicurus,philosophers about "happiness" and "happiness" thinking about how to make the ideas of the formation and development of modern British utilitarian theory.It mainly combs the basic characteristics and limitations of Bentham’s utilitarian theory,including the bitterness and pleasure principle,the effect theory and the utilitarian principle.Secondly,it analyzes how Mill revises the happiness theory of Bentham’s quantification through the demonstration of "qualitative happiness",and takes it as a starting point to rebuild the utilitarianism with happiness as the goal,happiness as the way,security as the condition and freedom as the essence.In order to protect freedom and happiness,Mill’s utilitarianism especially emphasizes the binding force of utilitarian principle,which is not only external binding force,but more fundamentally internal binding force.Therefore,it highlights that Mill’s utilitarianism emphasizes the cultivation and improvement of people’s spiritual power and subject ability.Finally,Mill’s demonstration of the utilitarian principle is emphatically discussed.In view of the limitations of Bentham’s demonstration of utilitarian principle,Mill started his argument from two dimensions: rationality and freedom.The fundamental rationality of the utilitarian principle lies in that "happiness is the only thing worth wanting",and this unique happiness worth wanting can be derived from "personal happiness" to "public happiness" in the sense of "overall",which is based on the innate human nature and the psychological mechanism generated by the innate human nature to avoid suffering and seek happiness.Through the demonstration of the latter,Mill reveals the inner secret of the true unity of freedom and utility,which is the fundamental condition for freedom to constitute the realization of happiness and the essential regulation of utility.Generally speaking,Mill started from the proof of contradictory happiness,then proved the "desirability" from "personal happiness" to "public happiness",and finally demonstrated the universality of the utilitarian principle,so as to complete the reconstruction of utilitarianism.This defensively reconstructed utilitarian theory is composed of three principles,namely,the principle of utility,the principle of freedom and the principle of equality,which constitute the open tension of Mill’s utilitarian thought and theory.