Utilitarianism - Ed. Heydt

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Broadview Press, Aug 6, 2010 - Philosophy - 204 pages

John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism is a philosophical defense of utilitarianism, a moral theory stating that right actions are those that tend to promote overall happiness. The essay first appeared as a series of articles published in Fraser’s Magazine in 1861; the articles were collected and reprinted as a single book in 1863. Mill discusses utilitarianism in some of his other works, including On Liberty and The Subjection of Women, but Utilitarianism contains his only sustained defence of the theory.

In this Broadview Edition, Colin Heydt provides a substantial introduction that will enable readers to understand better the polemical context for Utilitarianism. Heydt shows, for example, how Mill’s moral philosophy grew out of political engagement, rather than exclusively out of a speculative interest in determining the nature of morality. Appendices include precedents to Mill’s work, reactions to Utilitarianism, and related writings by Mill.

 

Contents

Acknowledgements
9
Introduction
11
A Brief Chronology
29
A Note on the Text
33
Utilitarianism
35
Precedents
101
Mill on Utilitarianism
147
Reactions to Utilitarianism
169
Select Bibliography
193
Index
197
Copyright

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About the author (2010)

Colin Heydt is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Florida. He is the author of Rethinking Mill’s Ethics: Character and Aesthetic Education (Continuum, 2006).

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