Mill’s Thought Of Happiness

Throughout the ages,the development of human society has always been inseparable from the theme of happiness,and a happy life has always been what people pursue.John Stuart Mill was a famous nineteenth-century philosopher,economist,and utilitarian scholar.He regards the nature of people who seek pleasure and avoid pain as the premise,the principle of pain and pleasure as the basis of the theory,the quality of the results caused by a person’s behavior as the basis for judging the quality of the behavior,and the most people can To get the most happiness as the ultimate goal,to construct my own theory of happiness.This thesis takes the study of Mill’s view of happiness as the title,analyzes the production process of his theory,analyzes the core connotation of his theory,and dialectically expounds the essence of his theory and its defects.The research on Mill’s concept of happiness will help us provide more directions for understanding happiness,and also provide theoretical support for us to construct the overall concept of happiness in today’s society.The theoretical basis of Mill’s concept of happiness can be traced back to Democritus’ theory of happiness,Epicurean’s hedonism,Locke’s theory of human understanding,Hume’s theory of moral sympathy and Bentham’s utilitarian concept of happiness.On the basis of the critical inheritance of the sages’ concept of happiness,Mill constructed his own theory of happiness.At the same time,Mill’s extraordinary life experience and social environment also provided external influences for the emergence of Mill’s theory of happiness.In his own theory of happiness,Mill made a new definition of the connotation of happiness.First,he expounded the rationality of pursuing happiness,proving that happiness can be obtained,and everyone will pursue happiness.Finally,happiness is the only thing worth people.something to pursue.Through the inheritance and development of Bentham’s utilitarian concept of happiness,Mill developed his own theory of happiness in a deeper level.First of all,there is a qualitative difference in happiness.Although the meaning of physical happiness is not denied,the happiness of the soul is much higher than the happiness of the body.Secondly,happiness is not the same as contentment.People have to admit that real happiness may not be perfect.If you want to get real happiness,you may have to give up some physical happiness and pursue more spiritual happiness.Although physical happiness may make People are very satisfied.Finally,there is an external binding force with rewards and punishments as the main form in society,and there must also be an internal binding force of conscience as a person,and the internal binding force is particularly important.Interpreting happiness as the happiness of all those involved in the behavior,that is,the happiness of the society as a whole,connects the happiness of the individual with the happiness of the society.People’s self-sacrificing character,the free development of people’s personality,and people’s desire for virtue in the pursuit of soul happiness,under the influence of these people’s internal factors and the effect of external constraints,personal happiness and social happiness are harmonized and unified.While pursuing their own happiness,people respect and protect the happiness of others,thus increasing the total amount of social happiness.Mill’s concept of happiness has extremely important theoretical value.It not only includes the important meaning that every member of the society desires more soul happiness than physical happiness,but also includes the pursuit of virtue by each individual and the improvement of personal cultivation for others.and the importance of society,emphasizing the important role of each individual in maintaining and coordinating the relationship between the individual and society.Although his theory is unreasonable,that is,it ignores the important role of motivation,and only regards the final result of behavior as the only criterion for judging whether the behavior is good or bad;The interests of the minority are ignored.But his theory still provides some theoretical basis for our society today.