A visão utilitarista de John Stuart Mil sobre a felicidade

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to study Mill's work, with special attention to the relation of Mill's conception of the nature of pleasure and how his doctrine of "greater happiness" should be understood. In order for this type of study to be possible, the biographical question is essential, because without taking it into account, it is difficult to understand the motivations and objectives of the author. But before dealing particularly with Mill, a both biographical and conceptual review of Jeremy Bentham's foundation of utilitarianism is carried out. After the revision of the utilitarian bases, it enters specifically in the key author studied in this work, Mill, and as in the case of Bentham, a biographical and conceptual analysis is made in which special attention is given to the divergences between their respective ways of dealing with the central points of utilitarian doctrine. Having made this initial comparison, the dissertation tries to delve deeper into the study of Mill's work, trying to highlight the classification of pleasures qualitatively, as well as quantitative, like Bentham had done. Within this context, the emphasis was placed on the classification of pleasures in superiors, related to the human intellect, and inferiors, related to corporeal ones. It was also sought to examine whether the concept relates values and freedom of choice to the different types of pleasures that can be enjoyed by man. With the conceptual basis established, the dissertation begins to examine the question of happiness, which, as is well known in the context of utilitarian doctrines, and it is also intimately linked to pleasure and minimization or avoidance of pain. With this, the fundamental point of utilitarianism is approached, the principle of greater happiness, which, it is important to emphasize "... it is not the greatest happiness of the agent himself, but the greatest of total happiness in global terms ..." (MILL, 2005, p. 52). With the discussion of the greatest happiness established it was then possible to examine the moral precepts to be observed in order to make clearer how Mill's view of happiness can be admired and understood.