Mill's 'proof' of utility and the composition of causes
Journal of Business Ethics 2 (2):135 - 155 (1983)
| Abstract | John Stuart Mill proposed that all policy precepts, be they in the areas of morality or prudence or aesthetics, are all subordinate to the precepts of the Art of Life. The value which he assumes in defining the Art of Life is the Principle of Utility. This principle, being normative rather than fact, can admit of no proof based solely on deductive inference. Yet Mill proposed considerations that he believed capable of rationally persuading one to accept his principle as the basic principle for the Art of Life. This paper aims to evaluate this argument. In particular, it tries to show that a crucial step, often thought to be a logical howler, is not to be so simply dismissed. It is shown that if one accepts certain theses from Mill's philosophy of science and of social science, concerning the composition of causes, then the crucial step is fully justified. It is also suggested that these theses of Mill's philosophy of science are mistaken. So Mill's proof of utility is, after all, unsound, but the reconstruction proposed shows it to be much more plausible and much more philosophically interesting than is often thought. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,672 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesNeil Cooper (1969). Mill's "Proof" of the Principle of Utility. Mind 78 (310):278-279.
Geoffrey Sayre-McCord (2001). Mill's “Proof” of the Principle of Utility: A More Than Half-Hearted Defense. Social Philosophy and Policy 18 (02):330-.
D. D. Raphael (1994). J. S. Mill's Proof of the Principle of Utility. Utilitas 6 (01):55-.
R. F. Atkinson (1957). J. S. Mill's “Proof” Of The Principle Of Utility. Philosophy 32 (121):158-.
Geoffrey Scarre (1984). Proof and Implication in Mill's Philosophy of Logic. History and Philosophy of Logic 5 (1):19-37.
Shia Moser (1963). A Comment on Mill's Argument for Utilitarianism. Inquiry 6 (1-4):308-318.
Fred Wilson (1982). Mill's Proof That Happiness is the Criterion of Morality. Journal of Business Ethics 1 (1):59 - 72.
Sheldon R. Smith (2010). Elementary Classical Mechanics and the Principle of the Composition of Causes. Synthese 173 (3).
Dale E. Miller (2004). On Millgram on Mill. Utilitas 16 (1):96-108.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads15 ( #78,613 of 549,067 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,185 of 549,067 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
