1001Philosophers

Jeremy Bentham vs John Stuart Mill

Bentham and Mill are the two foundational figures of utilitarianism, with Mill a generation younger and the most important reformer of Bentham's original program. Mill was educated by his father James Mill on strict Benthamite lines, and his mature thought is in important respects a deepening and humanizing of the inheritance.

At a glance

Jeremy BenthamJohn Stuart Mill
Dates1748 – 18321806 – 1873
NationalityEnglishBritish
EraModernModern
Movements Utilitarianism Utilitarianism, Empiricism
Profile Jeremy Bentham → John Stuart Mill →

Where they agree

Both held that the morality of an action is determined by its consequences for human welfare, both treated happiness as the only thing valuable in itself, and both used utilitarian reasoning as a tool for legal, political, and social reform. Both saw their philosophical work as continuous with practical politics and with the criticism of inherited institutions.

Where they disagree

Bentham held that pleasures differ only quantitatively — by intensity, duration, certainty, fecundity — and that pushpin is as good as poetry if the quantities are equal. Mill rejected this: there is a qualitative distinction between higher pleasures (intellectual, aesthetic, moral) and lower pleasures (bodily), and a competent judge would prefer a smaller amount of the higher to a larger amount of the lower. Mill also recovered a more substantial conception of liberty and individuality from Bentham's narrower calculative framework, particularly in On Liberty.

Representative quotes

Jeremy Bentham

  • “Priestley was the first (unless it was Beccaria ) who taught my lips to pronounce this sacred truth — that the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.”

    Extracts from Bentham's Commonplace Book", in Collected Works , x, p. 142; He credits Priestley in his Essay on the First Principles of Government (1768) or Beccaria with inspiring his use of the phrase, often paraphrased as " The greatest good for the greatest number ", but the statement "the greatest happiness for the greatest number" actually originates with Francis Hutcheson , in his Inquiry c

  • “Create all the happiness you are able to create: remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you to add something to the pleasure of others, or to diminish something of their pains . And for every grain of enjoyment you sow in the bosom of another, you shall find a harvest in your own bosom; while every sorrow which you pluck out from the thoughts and feelings of a fellow creature shall be replaced by beautiful peace and joy in the sanctuary of your soul .”

    Advice to a young girl (22 June 1830)

  • “Advice to a young girl (22 June 1830)”

    Create all the happiness you are able to create: remove all the misery you are able to remove. Every day will allow you to add something to the pleasure of others, or to diminish something of their pains . And for every grain of enjoyment you sow in the bosom of another, you shall find a harvest in your own bosom; while every sorrow which you pluck out from the thoughts and feelings of a fellow cr

John Stuart Mill

  • “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.”

    Ch. 2

  • “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.”

    Ch. II: Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion

  • “If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”

    Ch. II: Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion

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