Happiness and Individual

Abstract

The term ‘Happiness’ is considered as an emotional state which is characterized by feelings of joy, satisfaction, contentment and fulfillment. According to Aristotle happiness comes in achieving all the goods regarding health, wealth, knowledge etc which leads to the perfection of human nature and to the enrichment of human life through the period of a whole lifetime. In this present paper, basically I shall attempt to concentrate on Mill’s concept of Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is regarded as the Greatest Happiness Principle. It is one of the important theories of ethics. This theory emphasizes the greatest happiness of the greatest number as the ethical standard. According to this theory, an action is morally right if its consequences lead to happiness (absence of pain) and wrong if it ends in unhappiness (pain). It was Jeremy Bentham, who did most to systematize utilitarianism. Bentham’s disciple, J. S. Mill, was the next great utilitarian. This paper consists of three sections. The first section contains Mill’s view on individual liberty. In the second section, I have discussed Millian concept of utilitarianism in general and finally I conclude my discussion by raising the question whether Millian view of utilitarianism can ultimately be maintained consistently with his concept of individual liberty.