Why interpret Mill’s ethical theory as a kind of act-utilitarianism

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/1677-2954.2021.e79342

Abstract

It is widely known among ethicists that Mill’s moral theory is utilitarianism. It is not a consensus, however, what is the kind of utilitarianism he actually defended, if an act- or rule-utilitarianism. This paper aims to present the grounds for such dispute and supports that Mill is an act-utilitarian.

Author Biography

Fernanda Belo Gontijo, Doutora em Filosofia pela Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, SC

Licenciada em Filosofia pela Universidade Federal de São João del-Rei (2007) com especialização Lato Sensu em Filosofia pela Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (2015), Mestrado em filosofia pela Universidade Federal do Paraná (2013) e Doutorado em filosofia pela Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC, 2019). E-mail: fernanda.belo.gontijo@gmail.com

References

BERKELEY, George. Passive obedience: or, the Christian doctrine of not resisting the supreme power, proved and vindicated ... In a discourse deliver'd at the College-chapel. London: H. Clements, 1712.

BRANDT, R. B. Ethical Theory. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1959.

BRANDT, R. B. Morality, Utilitarianism, and Rights. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

BRINK, David. Mill’s Progressive Principles. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2013.

CRISP, Roger. Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Mill on Utilitarianism. London: Routledge, 1997.

DONNER, W.; FUMERTON, R. 2009. John Stuart Mill. Lisboa: Edições 70, 2011.

EGGLESTON, B; MILLER, D. E; WEINSTEIN, D. John Stuart Mill and The Art of Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

HOOKER, B. Ideal Code, Real World: a rule-consequentialist theory of morality, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

MILL, J. S. 1838. Bentham. In: ROBSON, J. M. (Ed.). Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969. Vol. X, p. 110-111.

MILL, J. S. 1843. A System of Logic. In: ROBSON, J. M. (Ed.). Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981. Vol. VIII, p. 944-945; 946; 1154; 1154-1155.

MILL, J. S. 1852. Whewell on Moral Philosophy. In: ROBSON, J. M. (Ed.). Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969. Vol. X, p. 181.

MILL, J. S. 1865. Auguste Comte and Positivism. In: ROBSON, J. M. (Ed.). Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969. Vol. X, p. 337-338.

MILL, J. S. 1872. Letter to John Venn. In: ROBSON, J. M. (Ed.). Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972. Vol. 17, p. 1881–1882.

MILL, J. S. Carlyle’s French Revolution. In: SCHNEEWIND, J. B. (Ed.). Mill’s Essays on Literature and Society. Ed., NY: The Macmillan Company, 1965.

MILL, J. S. Utilitarismo. Porto: Porto, 2005.

MILLER, Dale E. John Stuart Mill: moral, social and political thought. Cambridge: Polity, 2010.

TURNER, Piers Norris. Rules and Right in Mill. Journal of the History of Philosophy, v. 53, n. 4, p. 723-745, 2015.

URMSON, J. O. The Interpretation of the Moral Philosophy of J. S. Mill. Philosophical Quarterly, v. 10, p. 33-39, 1953.

Downloads

Published

2021-04-30

Issue

Vol. 20 No. 1 (2021): Dossier Neuroethics + Continuous Flow

Section

Articles - Continuous Flow

License

Licença Creative Commons
This obra is licensed under a  Creative Commons Atribuição-NãoComercial-SemDerivações 4.0 Internacional