The Nature of Happiness

Paper Summary:

The paper begins with a discussion of the more simple considerations of Bentham regarding happiness and its relation to pleasure. It is argued that Bentham's rather mathematical calculations of pleasure, and therefore happiness, are inadequate. Mill's distinction of "higher" and "lower" pleasures are here brought in. With reference to the case of Haydn and the Oyster, it is shown that Mill's modification to Bentham is useful in certain areas, but causes more problems for Mill's overall utilitarianism, such as accusations of elitism and an unclear distinction between the two kinds of pleasure.

From the Paper:

"Ever since antiquity, the concept of happiness has been vital to moral philosophy, although it has been occasionally neglected at times. Crisp says as much in his introduction to Utilitarianism: "we should consider seriously deficient an ethics which contains no answer to the question of the relation between morality and the happiness of the moral agent" . With regards to utilitarianism, this question is dealt with by the two figureheads of the theory, Bentham and Mill. Though the specific question of what happiness is is not central to utilitarianism, the fact that it is marked out as the only actual end in life, and leads to the Greatest Happiness Principle, makes it logical to define, however briefly."

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