Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Mill on Utilitarianism by Crisp Roger

Author:Crisp, Roger [ROGER CRISP]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published: 2011-07-31T16:00:00+00:00

to mistake the very meaning of a standard of morals, and to confound the rule of action with the motive of it. It is the business of ethics to tell us what are our duties, or by what test we may know them; but no system of ethics requires that the sole motive of all we do shall be a feeling of duty; on the contrary, ninety-nine hundredths of all our actions are done from other motives, and rightly so done, if the rule of duty does not condemn them.

Mill believes that customary morality is solidly grounded on the principle of utility. Indeed this perhaps offers a particularly strong rationale for his claims that customary morality should be assessed and reformed in the light of philosophical utilitarian reflection. Since customary morality allows us much leeway to act on motives other than those of duty, such as self-interest or love of others, Mill himself wishes to permit this, presumably thinking that our so acting will in the end lead to the maximization of happiness. He does think that customary morality ought to demand a little more of us than it does at present, as we have seen in this and the previous chapter. Utilitarianism—pure impartiality—should play a greater rôle in customary morality than it now does. Morality’s becoming more demanding, and the scope of duty’s expanding, is indeed a sign of moral progress in a society (AC 10.338). But Mill is a gradualist, who recognizes that reforms in customary morality can only be piecemeal.

As we saw in the previous section, Mill does allow some place for utilitarian and purely benevolent motivation in his ideal customary morality. But even when we do act from duty and from the principle of utility, he suggests, we have to take into account the interests of only those particular people concerned, such as, in the example in the previous section, your friend, your boss, the other employee and of course yourself. The reason for this is as follows:

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