Thursday, September 24, 2009

John Stuart Mill: Utilitarianism


John Stuart Mills wrote that there are possibilities that there are more people would not follow utilitarianism than expected. Hence, there are sanctions imposed to that effect. There are also two kinds of sanctions: the first is external sanction, and the second is internal sanction. The meaning of external sanction is that it exists externally to the human agent as an individual. Besides, external sanction reflects a form of peer pressure which is the fear of other people’s disapproval and as well as divine pressure which is the fear of rage or fury.
The second type of sanction which is internal sanction stems from one's sense of right and wrong. These include of feelings in a person’s personal mind that generate uneasiness when one violates moral responsibility. An example of external factor is when an individual hates another person for stealing his wife from him. As a result, such individual would file an appropriate charge in court against such person. On the other hand, the feeling of a person who stole another person’s personal property is guilt and fear of being caught by the authorities.

No comments: