Utilitarianism

John Stuart Mill

jan. 2017 · Coventry House Publishing

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Utilitarianism is a classic exposition and defense of utilitarianism in ethics. Written by political economist and civil servant John Stuart Mill, the essay first appeared as a series of three articles published in Fraser's Magazine in 1861; the articles were collected and reprinted as a single book in 1863. The essay provides support for the value of utilitarianism as a moral theory and defends it against a wide range of criticisms and misunderstandings. Though heavily criticized both in Mill's lifetime and in the years since, Utilitarianism has been credited with popularizing utilitarian ethics and is considered the most influential philosophical articulation of a liberal humanistic morality that was produced in the nineteenth century.

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John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher, political economist and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory and political economy. Dubbed "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century", Mill's conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state and social control.

Mill was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by his predecessor Jeremy Bentham, and contributed significantly to the theory of the scientific method.