John Stuart Mill did not create a system of ethics but rather defended a.
system created by his father, James Mill, and Jeremy Bentham. This.
system was called utilitarianism. Utilitarianism has the premise that.
the rightness or wrongness of actions is determined by the goodness or.
badness of their consequences. I feel that this is a very accurate.
ethical premise and John Stuart Mill's studies reflect this accuracy.
Happiness is the central function behind most of Mill's work. His.
utilitarianism uses happiness as the standard for moral judgment. In.
other words, a person's happiness is the central standard for the.
person's morals. It should be noted that Mills also states that some.
pleasures may be more extreme than others and that the person would most.
likely choose the most extreme pleasure. Mill also believed in what is.
known as generalized benevolence. This is the attitude that everyone's.
happiness is equal and that one should not put his/her happiness above.
another's happiness. .
John Stuart Mill believed that whether the inner feeling for humanity.
was acquired or inborn was of no consequence. It was important to Mill.
that people acknowledged that it did exist and that it was a powerful.
sentiment. He also believes that the happiness of all people was the.
most solid ethical sentiment.
Mill attempted to give an account of the methods of science and their.
applicability to social and natural phenomena as well as methods of.
logic. Mill's conception of logic was not entirely that of modern.
logicians; besides formal logic, what he called "the logic of.
consistency", he thought that there was logic of proof, that is, a logic.
that would show how evidence proved or tended to prove the conclusions.
we draw from the evidence. .
That led him to the analysis of causation, and to an account of.
inductive reasoning that remains the starting point of most modern.
discussions. Mill's account of explanation in science was broadly that.
