Chapter 14 Chapter Summary

In contrast to Kant, Mill argues that the rightness or wrongness of an action lies not in its motivating reason but in its anticipated consequences. According to Mill’s principle of utility, actions are moral to the extent that they promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. Mill understands happiness as pleasure and the freedom from pain, “the only things desirable as ends” (because they are the only things actually desired as ends), allowing that some pleasures are qualitatively better than others. The inherent superiority of one type of pleasure over another can be seen in the fact that all or almost all of those who have had experience of both have a decided preference for one, regardless of any presumed moral obligation favoring it. The utilitarian standard of morality is not the agent’s own happiness but the happiness of all affected beings, each of whom should be given equal consideration.