Utilitarianism Study Guide

First published in 1861, Utilitarianism constituted Mill's fullest treatment of the moral theory that was responsible for much of his philosophy. Following in the footsteps of Jeremy Bentham, in this work Mill provides the capstone paper outlining classical utilitarian ethics. Perhaps most significantly, he breaks with Bentham in regards to kinds of pleasure, differentiating between higher intellectual pleasures and lower bestial pleasures where his predecessor did not. In spite of being published over 150 years ago, the spirit of its principles still echo in the Weltanschauung of politics and society today.