...The philosopher that I have chosen is John Stuart Mill. John Stuart Mill was born on 20th May 1806 in London, to the British economist, historian and philosopher, James Mill and Harriet Burrow. Mill was a philosopher, political and economic theorist, naturalist, feminist, civil servant, scholar and an author. He was well-known as one of the most influential English philosopher of the nineteenth century. He was the eldest son and was educated by his strict father. Mill’s father was a supporter of Jeremy Bentham’s philosophy of utilitarianism and aimed to make his son a genius so that he would carry of Bentham's theory after both his and Bentham’s death. Therefore Mill’s father kept him very sheltered, away from children of his age and taught...
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...Three questions were raised. (CITATION page 5) What is happiness? What is the morally right way to live or to act? What is the relation between happiness and morality? All three questions centered on Mill and his beliefs. Mill answers with “happiness is pleasure,” “the right way to act is to produce the greatest amount of happiness,” and finally “the individual’s happiness will be found in doing what is morally right.” Personally those all sound like great answers, but I argue with his answers. Happiness may be pleasure for some but that can be falsified because of not everyone thinking the same as Mill. For example a murderer could find pleasure in killing which, does not back up his way of thinking. A murderer may find it pleasurable and his/her way of happiness, but in reality that would be unacceptable and morally wrong. Besides that example you have those who believe that love is the key to happiness, while others find money the key to happiness, it all depends on who that person is, and why they think a certain item, or emotion will bring them...
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...Philosopher Research Paper John Stuart Mill Prepared for Professor Sandra Gates Kaplan University Prepared by Lea Geckler November 1, 2011 INTRODUCTION This report discusses the history, theories, proof and weaknesses of John Stuart Mill ideals on Utilitarianism. Mill believes that if people participate in ethical actions it will create pleasure in life, and that is what most people want in life is pleasure not pain. Utilitarian’s believe the only things worth having are pleasurable experiences. Unfortunately not all experiences are pleasurable and they cause pain. Utilitarian’s define good and evil in terms of ethical and non-ethical consequences of pleasure and pain. (Brooks & Dunn, Chapter 3 pg.150) Simply stated do the ethical action and be rewarded with pleasure or do the unethical actions and be rewarded with pain, which can be physical or mental. Mill explains that pleasure and pain can be qualitative and quantitative for example; if you have a project and it time consuming, stressful and mentally exhausting this is the quantitative aspect but getting recognition from your manager or top management on a job well done is the qualitative aspect and that is the pleasure. HISTORYOF JOHN STUART MILL Mill was educated by his father and Jeremy Bentham, the founder of Utilitarianism in modern ethical thought (Encyclopedia of Ethics). He learned Greek at the age of three, Latin by the age of 8, a competent logician by the age of 12 and by age 16...
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...Name Professor Course Date Why does Mills think that Utilitarianism provides the foundation for Justice and why does Rawls reject it? Introduction The concept of utilitarianism is one that has engulfed the philosophical arena with an obscene number of arguments that support and/or criticize it. Generally, utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics that defines an action as one that ensures maximum utility. Other schools of thought would like to put it as the concept of “maximizing happiness while reducing suffering” (Mills 3).In as much as utilitarianism has continued to receive applause from people and the political scene, other divergent scholars has come up with other theories that seek to compromise the philosophies under which the concept of utilitarianism operates. As a result, utilitarianism has become subject to contradictions from other theories in the field of ethics. The thinking class in other fields of utilitarianism characterizes in as a quantitative yet reductionist approach to ethics (Mills 3). Over time, the concept of utilitarianism has received ideological threats from; deontological ethics which does not assign moral worth to an action based on its consequences, virtue ethics that solely deals with action and habits that results to happiness, pragmatic ethics and other forms of ethics that backs the idea of consequentialism. In a nut shell, the concept of utilitarianism as defined by political philosophers and in relation to justice is becoming...
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...Cognitive Psychology Definition Paper PSY/360 July 21, 20xx xxxx Cognitive Psychology Definition Paper Defining Cognitive Psychology Cognitive psychology focuses on the way human’s process information, looking at how we treat information that comes in to the person, better known as stimuli, and how this treatment leads to responses (McLeod, 2007). Cognitive psychologists study internal processes including perception, attention, language, memory and thinking. In ancient Greece, cognitive psychology created the need to understand how the mind works and what processes are involved in learning. Philosophers and early psychologists studied the mind, however the ancient Greeks knew little about the human mind and the mental process. Cognitive psychology is the field of psychology that emphasizes the study of mental processes (Galotti, 2014). These processes include thinking, language, problem solving, knowing, reasoning, judging and decision making. Cognitive psychology concluded that humans were not pushed or pulled by environmental factors. Cognitive psychology also studied how people view and understand the world. Subjects wanted to describe the patterns and irregularities during the operation of his or her mind. There were several key milestones in the development of cognitive psychology. Key Milestones in the Development of Cognitive Psychology Developmental milestones began in ancient Greek times have set a precedent in today’s views of cognitive psychology...
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...Utilitarianism ENG300 Information Literacy Assessment [Type the author name] This paper will discuss utilitarianism, its origins and how we can apply it to our lives today. I will show what would happen if everyone adopted this code of ethics and reasoning, and why I chose it. Utilitarianism What is Utilitarianism? According to our textbooks, utilitarianism is the ethical system which believes that which is ethical is what will bring the greatest good or happiness to the greatest number of people (Turner, 2006). In a direct quote from the American Heritage Dictionary, utilitarianism is the ethical theory proposed by Jeremy Bentham and James Mill that all action should be directed toward achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language). Though there are many varieties of the view discussed, utilitarianism is generally held to be the view that the morally right action is the action that produces the most good. There are many ways to spell out this general claim. One thing to note is that the theory is a form of consequentialism: the right action is understood entirely in terms of consequences produced. What distinguishes utilitarianism from egoism has to do with the scope of the relevant consequences. On the utilitarian view one ought to maximize the overall good — that is, consider the good of others as well as one's own good (Driver, 2009).A well-known dialogue by Leonard...
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...kill the rebel leader himself and he along with the remaining rebels get let go. If he failed to do so, the commander and his troops will execute all the rebels, sack their village for anything of value, and leave Jim stranded in the rainforest with no supplies, resulting in almost certain death. Through analyzing the theory of ethical relativism, we were able to decide that Jim should in fact kill the rebel leader, but what if we analyze another ethical theory? Will we come up with the same answer as we did before? Or is it possible that through the research of different theories and ideas we can come up with a completely different response to Jim’s unusual predicament? Using a new theory, utilitarianism, or, the idea that actions are right if they are useful or for the benefit of a majority, we can further analyze why Jim should still kill the rebel leader and why it is a better answer than if we were to use relativism. This paper will describe the ethical theory of utilitarianism in great detail, it will than be applied to Jim’s situation just like before, challenge opposing viewpoints of utilitarianism, refresh ourselves on why we originally picked relativism for Jim’s situation, and than we will analyze why utilitarianism, as opposed to relativism, is a better theory to use to aide Jim in his decision to execute the rebel leader. The theory of utilitarianism is fairly straightforward to understand, but we must define it in great detail in order to analyze why Jim should...
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...History of Psychology Danielle Shank PSY/310 February 18, 2013 Kelle Daniels History of Psychology To understand psychology today, one must understand the past of psychology. Rene’ Descartes believes a person’s mind to have an ability to reason and the body to be a machine. However, John Locke believed a person’s mind to be a clean slate and it is filled from experiences. These are two amazing theories about the mind and body. However, if all of the theories were to be discussed this would not be an essay; this would be a book series. Psychology dates back to the 1900’s but the true history goes back to the Greek philosophers or even farther to the 17th century B.C. with Psamtik 1 (King of Egypt). He believed the Egyptians were the oldest race and was curious about how. The foundation of psychology starts with philosophy and medicine than later becomes its own category of psychology. Psychology gets broken down into smaller parts. This paper will go over different philosophers of the past that brought the start of psychology and then a man who was in the 19th century of psychology. Philosophers That Began Psychology Hermann Ebbinghaus states in his textbook called “Psychology An Elementary textbook”, “Psychology has a long past, yet its real history is very short” (Ebbinghaus, 1908, p. 3). When this statement is broken...
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...Research Paper Alfred Binet The College of the Bahamas September 13th, 2012 Alfred Binet, was born in Nice, France on July 11th 1957. His mother was an artist and his father a physician. Today. He has became a well-known psychologist in history. Alfred Binet's most important accomplishment was getting other psychologists interested in the normal human mind and what it's capable of. Other psychologists during that time-period were far more interested in the mind of the mentally handicapped and brain sizes. After his parent's divorce, He later moved to Paris with his mother. He received his tertiary education at Lycee Louis -le-Grand. He graduated from law school in 1878, Alfred Binet had first planned to follow his father’s footsteps in the medical field and so he enrolled in medical school. Alfred Binet decided to become a lawyer even though he was not satisfied with his choice. After studying science at Sorbonne, he became literate in psychology by reading works by individuals such as Charles Darwin and John Stuart Mills. Immediately afterwards, he began working at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris under the guidance of John-Martin Charcot. Later he moved to a position at the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology where he was the associate director and researcher. In 1894, he was then made director of the laboratory. He related with the associationism theory suggested by J.S. Mills. In 1884, He met and married Laure Balbiani. They produced two daughters-...
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...Unit 2: Research Paper Jeremy Bentham Kaplan University Denise Manning AC504-01: Ethical Issues in Business and Accounting Professor Sandra Gates May 8, 2012 I will discuss Jeremy Bentham, who is considered the founding father of utilitarianism. He was an English philosopher and a political radical. Jeremy was born on February 15, 1748 in Houndsditch, London and died June 6, 1832. Jeremy Bentham came from a family of attorneys and lived during a time period of major social, political and economic change. In 1760 He went to the Queen’s College, Oxford and graduated in 1764. He also studied law at Lincoln’s Inn. Even though he was qualified to practice law, he never did. Jeremy decided to devote his life to writing on matters of legal reform. Some days he would write for eight to 12 hours. His best known works were on theoretical questions about law. Although, he did not make much of an effort to have his writings published. Jeremy’s most important work is the “Introduction to the principles of Morals and Legislation (1789)”, where his moral theory reflected “the greatest happiness principle” is described and developed. Upon his death on June 6, 1832, he left thousands of manuscript pages, all of which he hoped would eventually be prepared and published. The basis of Bentham’s moral and political philosophy is the greatest happiness principle, universal egoism and the artificial identification of...
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...school years, parents continue coordinating a myriad of activities, from music lessons to sports to academic tutoring and more, with increasing attention put on activities that will impress on college applications. At the same time, parents are also heavily involved in their children’s schools, volunteering in the classrooms, overseeing their homework and making sure their electives are moving them in the right direction. All the while, parents are reading from an ever-expanding list of books with titles such as “Raising a Happy Child”, “The Happy Kid Handbook”, and “Rich Kids: How to Raise Our Children to Be Happy and Successful in Life”, a clear indication that happiness for our children is a prime objective in today’s parenting. Current research also supports this as evidenced by Richard Weissbourd, a senior lecturer and researcher at Harvard...
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...other minds (in addition to our own), and the durability of causal relationships?” (Fletcher, 1996). The origins of modern psychology have their roots in philosophy harking back to the beginning with the Greeks, and on to the age of enlightenment and into the 19th century. In the 17th century philosophers like Rene Descartes took their observations about human behavior and tried to explain how the mind and body worked. Descartes created a distinction between mind and body. He posited that the mind was in the pineal gland and the body composed of “animal spirits” that coursed through the nervous system and caused movement. He proposed that some ideas are innate, and some are derived from the environment. (Goodwin, 2008) Unlike Descartes, John Locke thought the accumulation of experiences is what shaped the mind. He believed that humans are a born a “tabula rasa and it is their environment that shapes their behavior. “"Let us then...
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...rapidly. In many ways, the internet has ushered in an international age that has created uniformity in the way people dress, think, and view the world. J.S Mill discusses the idea of individuality in his book On Liberty. Mill analyzes individuality and expresses the human need for some level of eccentricity. Mill stresses the fact that individuality is one of the fundamental components of human happiness. His main point is that individuality is imperative to social and individual evolution. The internet, in many ways, brings about new ideas and introduces the public to many points of knowledge. However in the same respect the internet often detracts from a person’s individuality and originality by imposing uniformity. In this paper I will argue that Mill’s idea of individuality and its benefits to society do not coexist well in the same world as the internet. John Stuart Mill writes that individuality should be asserted in matters, “which do not primarily concern others” (Mill, 54). The only way a person can truly cultivate his or her individuality and become a more complete human is to look within him or herself regarding matters that are not of concern to others This allows them to become more complete. Only by looking within can a person discover what they want and thus grow as a person by becoming more familiar with himself. Mill states that individuality is necessary for a progressive society in the same way that it is necessary for a progressive and ever-evolving human. He argues...
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...demonstrating knowledge and understanding of the key pioneers, laws, reports and papers. Also I will cover the development from the 19th, 20th century to the end of the 21st century. 19th Century: Work of John Snow: Snow was a British physician who was considered as one of the founder of epidemiology for the work he did and identifying the source of cholera outbreak in the 1854. John Snow was born in a labourer family on 15th March 1813 in York and at the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a surgeon. In 1936 John Snow moved to London to start his formal medical education. He became a member...
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...Introduction to Primary Research: Observations, Surveys, and Interviews by Dana Lynn Driscoll This essay is a chapter in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 2, a peer-reviewed open textbook series for the writing classroom. Download the full volume and individual chapters from: • Writing Spaces: http://writingspaces.org/essays • Parlor Press: http://parlorpress.com/writingspaces • WAC Clearinghouse: http://wac.colostate.edu/books/ Print versions of the volume are available for purchase directly from Parlor Press and through other booksellers. This essay is available under a Creative Commons License subject to the Writing Spaces' Terms of Use. More information, such as the specific license being used, is available at the bottom of the first page of the chapter. © 2011 by the respective author(s). For reprint rights and other permissions, contact the original author(s). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Writing spaces : readings on writing. Volume 1 / edited by Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-60235-184-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-60235-185-1 (adobe ebook) 1. College readers. 2. English language--Rhetoric. I. Lowe, Charles, 1965- II. Zemliansky, Pavel. PE1417.W735 2010 808’.0427--dc22 2010019487 Introduction to Primary Research: Observations, Surveys, and Interviews Dana Lynn Driscoll Primary Research: Definitions and Overview How research is defined varies widely from...
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