Mill's 'Proof' of Utility and the Composition of Causes  

Oleh:

Wilson, Fred

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Journal of Business Ethics vol. 2 no. 2 (May 1983), page 135-155.
Topik: Mill; Utility; Compostion of Causes

Ketersediaan

Perpustakaan Pusat (Semanggi) Nomor Panggil: BB27.2 Non-tandon: 1 (dapat dipinjam: 0) Tandon: tidak ada

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John Stuart Mill proposed that all policy precepts, be they in the areas of morality of prudence or aesthetics, are all subordinate to the precepts of the Art of Life. The value which he assumes in defining the Art of Life is the Principle of Utility. This principle, being normative rather than fact, can admit of no proof based solely on deductive inference. Yet Mill proposed considerations that he believed capable of rationally persuading one to accept his principle as the basic principle for the Art of Life. This paper aims to evaluate this argument. In particular, it tries to show that a crucial step, often thought to be a logical 'howler', isnot to be so simply dismissed. It is shown that if one accepts certain theses from Mill's philosophy of science and of social science, concerning the composition of causes, then the crucial step is fully justified. It is also suggested that therse theses of Mill's philosophy of science are mistaken. So Mill's 'proof' of utility is, after all, unsound, but the reconstruction proposed shows it to be much more plausible and much more philosophically interesting then is often thought.

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