Utilitarianism

What it is

This is Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill. The essay first appeared as three articles in Fraser's Magazine in 1861, and was collected as a book in 1863. It went through four editions during Mill's lifetime. The copy described here is the seventh edition, published in London by Longmans, Green, and Co. in 1879. The audio version is a LibriVox volunteer reading by D. E. Wittkower, not Mill's own voice.

Why it matters

The essay is one of the most influential and widely read philosophical defenses of utilitarianism in ethics. Mill argued that the principle of utility, judging actions by their results for happiness, was a sound basis for morality. The debate over the right and wrong criterion has a long history, and Mill's work took part in it.

Look closer

• What does Mill say is the basis of morality, and how would you test his claim?
• Why did Mill publish his argument first in a magazine before making it a book?
• What objections to utilitarianism might a reader have that Mill does not address in this chapter?