Bentham's theory was act utilitarianism, but Mill's was rule utilitarianism. Bentham's theory applied the principle of utility to individual acts and situations directly. Though Mill's theory is more respectful of human nature, it makes pleasure even more difficult to calculate as we now have to consider unquantifiable quality of pleasure, as well as the quantity. For Mill, higher pleasures are more valuable than lower pleasures, because of their "intrinsic superiority". Mill acknowledged this, and to sidestep the criticism, he considered both quantity and quality pleasure. Mill distinguished between higher pleasures (those that require mental faculties that only educated humans could obtain) and lower pleasures ( bodily pleasures that both animals and humans could experience). "Quantity of pleasure being equal, pushpin is as good as poetry". This is because he made no distinction between the pleasures experienced by beasts and those experienced by humans. Both thought that the moral value of an act was determined by the pleasure it produced.īentham considered only quantity of pleasure, but Mill considered both quantity and quality of pleasure.īentham's utilitarianism was criticised for being a philosophy "worthy of only swine".
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