Tentative Response - Mill

1.Compare his justification for attacking received opinion on women with his justification for accepting utilitarianism

Mill proposes the Principle of Utility, which states that “actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness,” based on the Greatest Happiness Principle.  This principle advocates altruism, to act in accordance to everyone’s overall happiness, not an individual’s. Acting on this principle, he argues, will yield more truth, as well as result in the implementation of the most effective policies. Mill does agree that women are less able mentally and physically than men on the count that this idea is based on speculation, and not trial. Mill argues that if women are free, it benefits 1) women themselves are they are free from the unhappiness of the constraints men have placed on their gender, and 2) society at large would benefit because the entire population would then be able to participate in the intellectualism and labor that drives progress and growth. Thus Mill’s argument is utilitarian because it contributes to both individual development and the greater good of society.