John Stuart Mill: On Societal Benefits
摘要
If we want a theoretical framework that emphasizes end goals, Teleological Ethics is the way to go. Its focus is on consequences, rather than means or abstract principles. It shifts the spotlight from the individual to the society, seeking to maximize benefits and minimize harms for the greatest number of people. The superstar of Teleological Ethics is John Stuart Mill, who, along with Jeremy Bentham, laid the foundation of Utilitarianism. “No person is an entirely isolated being,” Mill observes (2003a, p. 212). We are members of a community, and its betterment merits our utmost concern. In this chapter we will get an overview of Mill’s Utilitarianism and its application to solitary confinement.