Mill: Earlier Utilitarianism and its Critics

Abstract The most influential and most widely read defence of utilitarianism is Mill’s short book Utilitarianism, published in 1861. This book is the result of Mill’s reflexions on utilitarianism over the previous thirty years.His reflexions make clear his views of the significant developments in controversy about utilitarianism from Bentham onwards. Since the developments explain some features of Mill’s statement of utilitarianism, it is useful to survey them before turning to Utilitarianism itself. We should look at these developments through Mill’s eyes, since his conception of the history of utilitarianism influences his view of what needs to be done. But we should also ask whether he is right about the main philosophical issues involved, and about the merits of the different sides.