Does ultilitarianism clash with John Stuart Mill's theory of liberty Essay

Does ultilitarianism clash with John Stuart Mill's theory of liberty - Essay Example democracy, skepticism and tradition (this he does at the same time), and liberty but each must avoid dogmatic thinking while operating, and the rights of the individual are sacrosanct. His extraordinary thoughts are difficult to understand, but if grasped as for their correct import, they must provide lots of valuable input for the practicing politicians of the day, as well as to evaluate the works of the thinkers, past and present! It is difficult job for an ordinary reader to try to understand whether his utilitarianism clashes with the theory of liberty; for the intelligent also, it is a tough exercise. Whereas he focuses on the individual and extols freedom, he dubs majority humanity as mediocre. Why the defender of freedom entertains such contradictory ideas? Critics, therefore, dub Mill as one of the most egotistical and arrogant philosophers. J. S. Mill was an English philosopher and economist. He wrote Utilitarianism in 1861. This essay propounds a moral and legal theory, with roots in classical philosophy. Its argument is straightforward. â€Å"Morality consists in bringing about the best state of affairs, and that the best state of affairs is the state with the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. Utilitarianism continues to be an important theory in modern philosophy.† (Spark Notes†¦) Mill had problems later with his own aversions to say that utilitarianism was too unemotional and that it failed to capture or understand the higher pleasures. His struggle to reconcile Utilitarianism is evident in his later writings but he did not reject utilitarianism as a moral theory. He continued to uphold a more complex version of utilitarianism. Mill defines utilitarianism as a theory based on the principle that "actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness."(Spark Notes) Happiness according to Mill is pleasure and the absence of pain. Having said this, he