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Wednesday, April 23
Harmon Reading Room
DeWitt Wallace Library
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Lunch will be provided
Questions? Contact the Philosophy Department at 6141.
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Henry West Utilitarian Conference
10 a.m. Gustav Leinbach, "Variety: Mill's Slaughter House"
In response to the charge that hedonistic utilitarianism is a doctrine worthy only of swine, Mill says that humans are capable of higher pleasures than non-human animals are capable of, and that these higher pleasures are superior in quality. In doing so, Mill has been charged with deserting hedonism. This paper argues that it is not the superiority in quality that makes distinctively human pleasures desirable but that variety of pleasures is what counts. With this in mind, Mill can be a consistent hedonist.
11 a.m Miroslav Losonsky, "Mill's Utilitarianism: Pleasure Mathematicians and Hedometers"
Bentham thought that there are only two dimensions to an experience of pleasure or pain--intensity and duration. Mill claimed that pleasures and pains also differ in quality. If the pleasure or pain of an experience is thought of as a homogeneous sensation, this would be inconsistent. But if pleasures differ in quality, as Mill claims, utilitarianism is not a matter of mathematics or of developing hedometers, but of reflecting upon varied experiences.
11:40-1:20 Lunch break
1:20 p.m. Will Howell, "Mill's Liberty of Thought and the Abatement of Discriminatory Opinions"
Mill establishes a duty "to form the truest opinions," but he also advocates freedom of opinion, which seems to override this duty. This paper argues that holding and advocating discriminatory opinions violates the rights of others and thus is contrary to utilitarian ethics. Within limits there should be state control over expressible opinions that harm others. |
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