Philosophical Ethics - Utilitarianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Philosophical Ethics - Utilitarianism - Essay Example There are drawbacks to seeing things from Mill’s perspective, first of all because Mill lived in a society which was much different and much less global than today’s society. Secondly, there are problems in equating society at the beginning of the industrial revolution, in terms of quality and safety of the workplace. So, many of the early uses of the philosophy have been supplanted by new uses, in which authors like Bentham expand definitions of utility, in two basically positivist representations of utilitarianism by these authors. Mill was famous with a philosophy called utilitarianism. â€Å"An apology is due to the philosophical opponents of utilitarianism, for even the momentary appearance of confounding them with any one capable of so absurd a misconception; which is the more extraordinary, inasmuch as the contrary accusation, of referring everything to pleasure† (Mill, 2010). The author doesn’t go into a lot of detail about this philosophy or the fact that it is rather out of date today, since it enjoyed its most prominence in the Victorian era. However people still do talk about utilitarianism today, and Mill uses a basically utilitarian argument of logic to state that no one should be more or less important than anyone else, in terms of sentient beings. Compared to Bentham, Mill is the earlier writer, and therefore he supplies more of a framework of utilitarianism. He sets out to define the theory as well as defend it, and the document is very insistent that this philosophy should not be conflated with simple hedonism. Rather, it is more of an early attempt at a social capital theory, with generalized terms that would represent the equation of happiness in society. What Mill and Bentham both see utilitarianism as is a moral theory, and this is correct, and therefore the author uses the moral theory to back up their own moral philosophy. â€Å"Jeremy Bentham incorporated the essential basis