1 Inquire through: | Professional | Confidential Support
How is Mill's 'proof' supposed to work? Does it
succeed? Questions and Answers (100% Correct
Answers)
Mill's principle of utility
Ans: 1. Happiness is the only thing that is intrinsically desirable, 2. it is the only end
towards which humans strive;
3. all other things are desirable merely as a means to this end.
3 stages of the claim
Ans: 1. Happiness is desirable as an end;
2. individual happiness is desirable as an end then the aggregate - or general -
happiness is also desirable as an end;
3. that nothing other than happiness is intrinsically desirable.
The extent of the success of Mill's proof
Ans: 1. Only stage one is capable of being justified
2. Even when other stages are fully accepted, Mill only able to provide a proof for a
principle of utility that is more egoistic in focus
An ordinary proof
Ans: Seeks to demonstrate the truth of a claim by appealing to undeniable
arguments.
The type of proof Mill provides
Ans: Not a direct proof. Does not appeal to intuition. Appeals to our experiences -
inductive argument
Proving the first stage: Happiness is desirable
Ans: Mill claims that the only instrument that one has to decide this is the faculty of
desire.
Analogous: visibility and faculty of sight
Mill: "the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable is that
people do actually desire it"
Argument for general happiness being desirable
Ans: 'fact' that a person desires their own happiness and from this 'fact' asserts that
"each person's happiness is a good to that person",
, 2 Inquire through: | Professional | Confidential Support
from which he immediately obtains his next premise that "the general happiness,
therefore, [is] a good to the aggregate of persons"
The claim that only happiness is desirable
Ans: Anything that we think we desire for its own sake is actually desired for to
fulfill the greater goal of gaining happiness.
The example of money and happiness
Ans: Mill argues that what is desired is either a means to happiness, or that its
frequent association with pleasure means that possession of money itself becomes a
source of pleasure, in which case it forms a constituent part of happiness.
The example of virture
Ans: "those who desire virtue for its own sake, desire it either because the
consciousness of it is a pleasure, or because the consciousness of being without it is
a pain".
The proof argument
Ans: 1. The only evidence that a thing is desirable is that people actually desire it;
2. People desire happiness;
3. Therefore, happiness is desirable;
4. Each person's happiness is desirable to that person because they desire it;
5. The general happiness, therefore, is desirable to the aggregate of all people;
6. Human desire is nothing which is not either a direct part of happiness or a means
to happines
7.Conclusion: Happiness is desirable, and the only thing desirable, as an end, or
alternatively, the principle of utility is proved. 1
4.
G.E Moore: Desirable vs Good
Ans: defining 'desirable' as 'good' as just because what is good may be desired, it
does not follow that that is desired is good.
A successful definition should not leave an 'open question' like 'is what is desired
good?'.
Why the visibility argument fails
Ans: desirable' is not equivalent to 'able to be desired' as 'visible' means 'able to be
seen',
How is Mill's 'proof' supposed to work? Does it
succeed? Questions and Answers (100% Correct
Answers)
Mill's principle of utility
Ans: 1. Happiness is the only thing that is intrinsically desirable, 2. it is the only end
towards which humans strive;
3. all other things are desirable merely as a means to this end.
3 stages of the claim
Ans: 1. Happiness is desirable as an end;
2. individual happiness is desirable as an end then the aggregate - or general -
happiness is also desirable as an end;
3. that nothing other than happiness is intrinsically desirable.
The extent of the success of Mill's proof
Ans: 1. Only stage one is capable of being justified
2. Even when other stages are fully accepted, Mill only able to provide a proof for a
principle of utility that is more egoistic in focus
An ordinary proof
Ans: Seeks to demonstrate the truth of a claim by appealing to undeniable
arguments.
The type of proof Mill provides
Ans: Not a direct proof. Does not appeal to intuition. Appeals to our experiences -
inductive argument
Proving the first stage: Happiness is desirable
Ans: Mill claims that the only instrument that one has to decide this is the faculty of
desire.
Analogous: visibility and faculty of sight
Mill: "the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable is that
people do actually desire it"
Argument for general happiness being desirable
Ans: 'fact' that a person desires their own happiness and from this 'fact' asserts that
"each person's happiness is a good to that person",
, 2 Inquire through: | Professional | Confidential Support
from which he immediately obtains his next premise that "the general happiness,
therefore, [is] a good to the aggregate of persons"
The claim that only happiness is desirable
Ans: Anything that we think we desire for its own sake is actually desired for to
fulfill the greater goal of gaining happiness.
The example of money and happiness
Ans: Mill argues that what is desired is either a means to happiness, or that its
frequent association with pleasure means that possession of money itself becomes a
source of pleasure, in which case it forms a constituent part of happiness.
The example of virture
Ans: "those who desire virtue for its own sake, desire it either because the
consciousness of it is a pleasure, or because the consciousness of being without it is
a pain".
The proof argument
Ans: 1. The only evidence that a thing is desirable is that people actually desire it;
2. People desire happiness;
3. Therefore, happiness is desirable;
4. Each person's happiness is desirable to that person because they desire it;
5. The general happiness, therefore, is desirable to the aggregate of all people;
6. Human desire is nothing which is not either a direct part of happiness or a means
to happines
7.Conclusion: Happiness is desirable, and the only thing desirable, as an end, or
alternatively, the principle of utility is proved. 1
4.
G.E Moore: Desirable vs Good
Ans: defining 'desirable' as 'good' as just because what is good may be desired, it
does not follow that that is desired is good.
A successful definition should not leave an 'open question' like 'is what is desired
good?'.
Why the visibility argument fails
Ans: desirable' is not equivalent to 'able to be desired' as 'visible' means 'able to be
seen',
