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Full Idea
No reason can be given why the general happiness is desirable, except that each person, so far as he believes it to be attainable, desires his own happiness.
Gist of Idea
General happiness is only desirable because individuals desire their own happiness
Source
John Stuart Mill (Utilitarianism [1861], Ch.4)
Book Ref
Mill,John Stuart: 'Utilitarianism (including On Liberty etc)', ed/tr. Warnock,Mary [Fontana 1962], p.288
| 3923 | No one would cause pain to a complete stranger who happened to be passing [Hume] |
| 3924 | Nature makes private affections come first, because public concerns are spread too thinly [Hume] |
| 3770 | General happiness is only desirable because individuals desire their own happiness [Mill] |
| 2884 | The morality of slaves is the morality of utility [Nietzsche] |
| 4501 | Utilitarianism criticises the origins of morality, but still believes in it as much as Christians [Nietzsche] |
| 22404 | Any group interested in ethics must surely have a sentiment of generalised benevolence [Smart] |
| 4124 | Utilitarian benevolence involves no particular attachments, and is immune to the inverse square law [Williams,B] |
| 3262 | Utilitarianism is too demanding [Nagel] |