Western Philosophy PDF EPUB Audio

Utilitarianism

Downloads: Under 100
First published: 1861
Pages: 79

Read online EPUB Download Save

Listen to Utilitarianism Audiobook Free

Read by D.E. Wittkower · 3 h 28 min · 7 parts

Open the player

General Remarks
13:00
What Utilitarianism Is (part 1)
31:45
What Utilitarianism Is (part 2)
33:57
Of the Ultimate Sanction of the Principle of Utility
26:44
Of what Sort of Proof the Principle of Utility is Susceptible
22:38
On the Connection between Justice and Utility (part 1)
30:48
On the Connection between Justice and Utility (part 2)
49:29

Utilitarianism (1879) is a public domain work.

The audio edition streams in the page. There is no audio file to download.

Browse all free audiobooks

About this book

Mill sets out to defend and sharpen the moral theory he inherited from Jeremy Bentham: that actions are right insofar as they promote happiness and wrong as they produce its reverse. Anticipating the usual objections, he argues that pleasures differ in quality as well as quantity, famously claiming it is better to be a dissatisfied Socrates than a satisfied fool. He takes up justice, duty, and the question of proof, trying to show that a morality grounded in the general welfare can still honor rights and fairness. Compact and closely argued, the essay remains the single most influential statement of utilitarian ethics and a fixture of philosophy courses everywhere. Free to download as a PDF or EPUB.

About the author

John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was an English philosopher, economist, and political thinker, one of the most influential figures of the nineteenth century, author of On Liberty and A System of Logic.