Explain the two sanctions of mill in utilitarianism (external and internal), exp

Question

Explain the two sanctions of mill in utilitarianism (external and internal), explain the doctrines as well in full details and how does milk respond to the challenge that if each individual is motivated by the desire for his/her own happiness there is no reason to assume that action(motivated for desire for pleasure) will at the same time promote the interest of the society m Explain the two sanctions of mill in utilitarianism (external and internal), explain the doctrines as well in full details and how does milk respond to the challenge that if each individual is motivated by the desire for his/her own happiness there is no reason to assume that action(motivated for desire for pleasure) will at the same time promote the interest of the society m

Explanation / Answer

utilitarianism:Utilitarianism is an ethical theory (with classical antecedents) developed in the modern period by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-73) to promote fairness in British legislation during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when the interests of the upper classes tended to prevail and the sufferings of the lower classes were neglected.

In Mill’s usage, the sanction of a moral principle is the motivation one has to obey it. He distinguishes internal and external sanctions.

The internal sanction is the voice of conscience an inner voice that offers opinions when asked, what is morally right and wrong for me to do. This is an internal source of reward and punishment if you do as your conscience instructs you, you feel good, and if you disobey conscience, you feel bad. At least, this is so, to the extent that you have a conscience.

External sanctions involve one’s desire not to incur the displeasure of others and the punishment they might inflict, together with the desire to incur the pleasure of others and the rewards they might confer. If others who interact with you are disposed to punish you if you disobey their idea of moral duties, and disposed to reward and favor you if you obey, you have an external sanction to obey their idea of morality. Also, if you have sympathy or affection for others, this will also be a sanction favoring your compliance with moral dictates, so far as morality dictates that you constrain your selfish urges and act in ways that benefit others. Also, if you believe in a God who punishes and rewards in the afterlife, this is a further external sanction.

Indeed, those of them which refer to our fellow creatures are sure to do so, in proportion to the amount of general intelligence; for whether there be any other ground of moral obligation than the general happiness or not, men do desire happiness; and however imperfect may be their own practice, they desire and commend all conduct in others towards themselves, by which they think their happiness is promoted. With regard to the religious motive, if men believe, as most profess to do, in the goodness of God, those who think that conduciveness to the general happiness is the essence, or even only the criterion of good, must necessarily believe that it is also that which God approves.This conviction is the ultimate sanction of the greatest happiness morality. This it is which makes any mind, of well-developed feelings, work with, and not against, the outward motives to care for others, afforded by what I have called the external sanctions; and when those sanctions are wanting, or act in an opposite direction, constitutes in itself a powerful internal binding force, in proportion to the sensitiveness and thoughtfulness of the character; since few but those whose mind is a moral blank, could bear to lay out their course of life on the plan of paying no regard to others except so far as their own private interest compels of the society.

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