Philosophers that we have study so far have
different views: Aristotle represents Virtue
Ethics, Kant represents Duty Ethics and now Mills representing Utilitarianism. All three authors regard morality as the search for the
highest good. But it seems they disagree about the definition of the highest
good. For Aristotle , it is happiness understood as self sufficient with fulfillment
of all desires, defined by activity in agreement with virtue , for Kant it is a
good will, defined by duty and for Mill it is happiness understood as pleasure
and absence of pain.
I
find it intriguing the comparison of their moral theories. For Aristotle one acts
for pleasure and for the sake of nobility “Happiness is at once the best, noblest
and most pleasant thing.” and for
Kant fulfilling one’s duty, one has to do one’s duty for the sake of duty or
the law; and for Mill, one has to do the duty of increasing the amount of
happiness of the largest number of people.
As
I continue reading Mill’s Utilitarianism more and more comparisons of moral
theories come about, what have you observed?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.